Posted on 05/17/2018 7:14:24 PM PDT by mdittmar
Trump administration’s attempt to discredit proper use of official time is disgraceful, union says
WASHINGTON - The Trump administration’s efforts to demonize labor unions hit a new low today with the release of a statement by the Office of Personnel Management that attempts to discredit the proper use of the decades-old representational practice, official time.
Following is a statement from J. David Cox Sr., national president of the American Federation of Government Employees:
“OPM’s report on the use of official time in fiscal year 2016 confirms that the amount of official time used by federal workers is minuscule when compared to the entire workforce, and the benefits to American taxpayers are enormous. Yet OPM’s press release announcing the report attempts to discredit the very notion of official time by falsely labeling it as ‘taxpayer-funded union time.’
“Contrary to OPM’s misleading statement, official time is never used to conduct internal union business, such as soliciting members, holding internal union meetings, electing union officers, or engaging in partisan political activities.
“Employees who volunteer to serve as union representatives use official time only to perform official agency business. Official time is used for representational activities – things like improving workplace health and safety, enforcing reasonable accommodations for workers with disabilities, aiding whistleblowers, and representing employees in grievances.
“Federal employee unions are required by law to represent all bargaining-unit employees, regardless of whether they choose to join the union.
“The cost of official time amounts to just one-tenth of one percent of all of the salaries and benefits paid to federal employees. Yet the benefits to the federal workforce and taxpayers are many, including improved productivity, efficient delivery of services, and agency cost savings.
“OPM should be ashamed for attempting to politicize a system that encourages federal agencies and employee representatives to work together proactively to establish constructive work environments, which deliver better services to taxpayers, and saves them money.”
“Methinks they doth protesteth a bit much!”
“Official time” for government union goons is long past its expiration date. Time for it to go bye-bye.
Wah...Wah...Wah...
It’s time for government workers to be forbidden from forming unions.
L
Yawwwwnnnnn..
if it is such an insignificant amount of time then why should they get paid for it?
As a former federal employee AND a former ‘shop representative’ of the AFGE local that used to be located at Grumman Aerospace company, Bethpage, Long Island, NY, Plants Nos. 1, 2, 4 and the Great River facility.
I can tell you, “official time” is time that you, the taxpayer, are paying for that particular employee to do their contracted work, and instead, they are attending to “union business”. The ‘representatives’ are engaging in disciplinary disputes between workers and supervisors. They are participating, under contract, in the hiring procedures of prospective new employees, and other “union matters”, which DO remove them from their particular paid-for government salary function.
“One percent of the time”, if thought out of one calendar year, comes down to 48 weeks with all the government-paid holidays. That is 48 times 40 hours, or 1920 hours. Take away from that the standard two weeks accrued paid leave time a year and we come to 1840 hours. Now we come to the question: “What would be ONE PERCENT OF THIS TIME?” That would entail a whole “18.40 hours”, or 2 workdays and 2.40 hours, or time from start of work to first break.
I CAN GAM DARAUNTEE THAT IS AN OUTRIGHT LIE!! A grievance procedure from an employee against a supervisor take a lot longer than that, even for the employee to write out paperwork!! I’ve helped employees write them, and as the ‘representative’, done the follow-on procedures and subsequent MEETINGS, which took ME away from MY job, too.
All more than a total of 18.4 hours, PER EMPLOYEE.
(i DON’T THINK THEY MENTIONED THAT PART.)
BUMP!
IMO, government employees at all levels (local, state, and federal) should NEVER be unionized.
IMO, government employees at all levels (local, state, and federal) should NEVER be unionized.
Trump is on the right track. Federal employee unions are a scourge on this country, and should be abolished.
Those people ostensibly work for us - the taxpayers - and we don’t have a seat at the bargaining table.
If it’s such a tiny amount of money they shouldn’t miss it.
What is different is the media picking it up.
Think about what you’ve seen of Federal management over the last two years and you’ll get a good idea of the corruption that exists above the entire Federal work force.
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