Pay, outsourcing top agenda at union conference

Lawmakers told members of the largest federal employee union that they have a rare opportunity as the Obama administration gets under way to fight for their pay and benefits and protect their jobs from outsourcing.

"We've got to get rid of this so-called pay for performance. That's pay for sucking up to your boss. I know how it works. You know how it works. And therefore, it doesn't work," said Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., to the 400 members of the American Federation of Government Employees who gathered in Washington this week for the annual Legislative and Grassroots Mobilization Conference.

AFGE President John Gage said while the union is proud to have supported President Obama, members should be prepared to fight for change on their own. Obama, Gage said, retained Bush Defense Secretary Robert Gates at a time when the union is pushing to end the department's National Security Personnel System. He also said Obama inched into dangerous territory with respect to pay when he froze the salaries of senior White House staff.

"Pay will always be an issue, no matter who is in power," Gage said. During a recession, "We are more than willing to do our share," he said. "But we will not be singled out; we will not be scapegoated. We must be prepared to mobilize."

Senate Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, said he would continue to try to place Alaska, Hawaii and U.S. territories under the locality pay system. Those regions currently fall under the cost-of-living adjustment system, but unlike locality pay, COLAs do not count toward Thrift Savings Plan matching funds or retirement benefits. Akaka framed that cause as part of a larger commitment to ending pay disparities across the federal workforce and between the public and private sectors.

He also said he hoped Obama would issue an executive order reviving Clinton-era labor-management partnerships, an issue on which he sponsored legislation during the 110th Congress.

In addition to pay, lawmakers addressed the Bush administration's controversial competitive sourcing program. In particular, Mikulski attacked the administration's approach to contracting out employees' jobs at the Social Security Administration and pointed to scandals at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as an example of some of the problems caused by outsourcing inherently governmental jobs.

"You cannot have a United States of America without a civil service system. It starts with respect," said Mikulski. "It's our job to fight to get you the resources. We need a spirit of '76, the American Revolution, to turn this country around, not A-76."

Obama has committed to examining the current federal contracting process, but has not promised to end the practice of outsourcing federal jobs completely.

Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Md., whose district includes many federal employees and whose family members were AFGE members (her mother is retired and her sister's job was contracted out) said the union and Congress would need to fight to end the outsourcing of inherently governmental jobs and to increase whistleblower protections at a time when federal workers have oversight of the financial bailout.

"It's really important to ensure that we spend [bailout funds] in the right kind of way," Edwards said. "You work for the taxpayer, and we know you're going to protect us in a way that others may not."

Other topics discussed on Monday included federal paid parental leave, which House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., said he would continue to support, and improving federal recruiting.

Gage also emphasized the need to boost union recruiting, noting that AFGE will have to adjust its organizing strategy to negotiate strong new contracts and to continue convincing potential members that joining the union is worthwhile. AFGE grew every year during the Bush administration, adding 13,000 new members in 2008 alone, and Gage said the union would have to work hard to make sure that growth continues.