Management
Survey: Most Feds Who Have Been Working From Home During the Pandemic Are Afraid to Return to Their Offices
Nearly 80% of teleworking respondents to a new survey from AFGE said they don’t feel safe going back to their traditional worksite.
Management
Labor Authority: Unions Can't Do 'Grassroots' Lobbying on Official Time
Although federal employee groups decried the decision, the Federal Labor Relations Authority stopped short of a conservative anti-labor organization's request to outlaw direct lobbying of lawmakers while on official time.
Management
Union: Social Security Is Withholding Information and Refusing to Bargain as Some Employees Return to Offices
Agency argues most employees are still teleworking to the maximum extent possible and there has been no major change in work arrangements that would require negotiation.
Management
AFGE Pushes for Workforce Protections in Defense Policy Bill Negotiations
The nation’s largest federal employee union urged lawmakers to include collective bargaining protections and fix a soon to be implemented paid parental leave law.
Management
Administrative Law Judges Union Accuses Social Security of Illegal Implementation of Contract
SSA on Monday moved ahead with a partial collective bargaining agreement with the Association of Administrative Law Judges, despite the fact that nine articles remain in dispute, and the agency unilaterally rewrote an article without the union’s input.
Management
Vast Majority of VA Employees Have Either Witnessed Or Experienced Racism at Work, Survey Finds
Nearly 76% of respondents to union survey have experienced "racially charged actions," and three-quarters of those who haven't experienced incidents themselves say they have witnessed them.
Management
OPM Is Reorganizing Employees to Get Around Ban on GSA Merger, Union Claims
Over the weekend, the Office of Personnel Management moved nearly two dozen employees into the agency’s HR Line of Business, which is being renamed with GSA support.
Management
Immigration Judges Union Survives, For Now
Federal Labor Relations Authority regional director rejects arguments by the Justice Department that immigration judges are managers and therefore their union should be decertified.
Management
Appellate Court: FLRA Cannot Override Arbitrators Just Because It Disagrees With Them
A three-judge panel last week overturned a Federal Labor Relations Authority decision, ruling that the federal labor-management agency did not provide enough deference to neutral arbitrators.
Management
White House Objects to Language Preventing OPM-GSA Merger and Other Workforce Provisions in House 'Minibus' Spending Bill
Veto threat also lists objections to provisions that would undermine the White House’s approach to labor-management relations.
Management
Democratic Senators Introduce Bill to Include Feds in Coronavirus Response Decisions
A task force of administration and union officials would make recommendations for how agencies should protect workers during the pandemic.
Pay & Benefits
Trump Threatens Veto of Defense Policy Bill Over Base Names, Other Issues
The White House issued a formal veto threat of the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act just hours before lawmakers voted on the must-pass legislation.
Management
Federal Employee Unions Endorse Biden for President
The news comes as no surprise following the Trump administration’s concerted efforts to diminish the role of labor groups at federal agencies and cut benefits and protections for frontline federal workers.
Management
Labor Agency Changes Organizational Chart to Bolster Court Defense
Attorneys for a union challenging how members of the Federal Service Impasses Panel are appointed called recent changes to the Federal Labor Relations Authority website a “cynical” effort to influence the case.
Pay & Benefits
Labor Board Makes It Easier for Federal Employees to Cancel Union Dues
Until now, feds could only opt out of union membership at one-year intervals.
Pay & Benefits
House Appropriations Bill Keeps Trump’s 1% Raise for Feds, Blocks other White House Priorities
The legislation would prevent the Trump administration from moving forward with its proposed GSA-OPM merger as well as implementation of new union contracts.
Oversight
Victims Sue AFGE Over Former President’s Misconduct
A group of former employees, contractors and union members assert that for years, the upper management of the largest federal employee union turned a blind eye to former President J. David Cox’s sexual harassment and abuse.
Management
House Defense Policy Bill Fixes Parental Leave Loopholes, Preserves Pentagon Collective Bargaining
The House version of the 2021 Defense authorization measure ensures all federal workers have access to the new benefit providing 12 weeks of paid parental leave, and it also standardizes locality pay between the General Schedule and Federal Wage System pay scales.
Management
White House Advisor Sought Legal Opinion to Allow Trump to Fire Anyone In Government
A recently published internal White House document from early in the Trump administration proved to be a road map for the White House’s efforts to weaken unions and cut federal employee pay and benefits.
Management