Please check this out -- some examples of how the Unions have been operating in the Federal Government since 9/11. If you were mad at daschle/clinton/byrd/gore/kennedy before, you will be even madder after reading this!
Posted on 09/27/2002 12:44:16 PM PDT by PhiKapMom
Why a Flexible Homeland Security Agency is Critical to Our National Defense
September 25, 2002
1. After September 11, 2001, the Customs Service wanted to require its inspectors at the 301 ports of entry to wear radiation detection pagers to help detect attempts to import nuclear or radiological materials across our borders. The National Treasury Employees Union objected, saying that wearing the pagers should be voluntary, and sought to invoke collective bargaining over the issue, which would (under the best of circumstances) have taken at least a year to resolve. In the end the union backed down, and the Customs Service believes it did so in part because of the implicit threat that the President would exercise his national security authority to exempt the relevant units of the Customs Service from collective bargaining under Title 5, Section 7103.
2. The Border Patrol has established special tactical teams that need to deploy at a moment’s notice. Despite this time sensitive mission, the American Federation of Government Employees negotiated an agreement requiring that the Border Patrol ensure that “suitable eating places, drug stores, barber shops, places of worships, cleaning establishments, and similar places necessary for the sustenance, health, or comfort of the employee to foster the efficient performance of government business.”
3. After September 11, 2001, the Customs Service signed cooperative agreements with several foreign ports allowing Customs inspectors to pre-inspect cargo abroad before it sailed into U.S. ports. The Customs Service wanted to send it best agents to these ports for these sensitive foreign assignments. The National Treasury Employees Union objected, saying that internal union rules should determine who should get these assignments, not Customs Service managers. Fortunately, the union backed down before bargaining to impasse and filing a grievance with the Federal Labor Relations Authority. The Customs Service believes they did so in part because of the implicit threat that the President would exercise his national security authority under Title 5, Section 7103.
4. In 1999, the Border Patrol decided that agents should be armed and trained to use “side handle batons” as an intermediate use-of-force weapon. The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents many Border Patrol officers, wanted to include this issue in its larger negotiations with management. When the Border Patrol, citing public and officer safety, decided to implement the program despite the union’s objections, the union appealed to the Federal Labor Relations Authority. The FLRA sided with the union and agreed that this would mean a more than de minimis effect on conditions of employment, and thus halted its implementation pending further proceedings before an Administrative Law Judge.
5. Since 1995, the INS has been unable to change its body search policy to protect its employees because the American Federation of Government Employees has forced the issue to be part of its broader contract negotiations with management. This has not only left INS employees exposed to physical harm and potential financial damage, but leaves INS operations open to lawsuits based on charges of constitutional violations of an individual’s rights regarding detention and body searches.
6. In the federal system, it can take more than a year to remove poor performing employees. Although there are emergency authorities to fire employees on national security grounds, in 2000 only 6 federal employees – out of a possible 1.8 million – were fired using this authority, and in 2001, only three. In the vast majority of cases, an employee is entitled to 30 days leave, advance notice of dismissal, leave with pay, and a lengthy, multiple avenue appellate process. In the meantime, the agency cannot fill the employee’s position on a permanent basis. In a typical case, an employee is entitled to the following steps:
Investigation by the Office of Special Counsel -- 4 months
Hearing and decision by regional Merit Systems Protection Board -- 4 months
Review by Merit Systems Protection Board Headquarters -- 4 months
Review by Equal Employment Opportunity Commission -- 36 months
Review by all three levels of the federal court system -- 6 months to several years
7. Under the current federal pay system, there are 15 different “grades” of pay, which were prescribed in statute 50 years ago. These grades no longer meet the needs of the modern government workforce. For example, in this system, no “grade-skipping” is allowed – even for promotions. Federal employees must serve at least one year within a grade level (known as “time-in-grade”) before advancing to a new one. Career ladders also stop at Grade 15, at which point employees reach a salary ceiling and are given annual, inflation-based raises. In general, a poor employee will receive the same automatic annual pay increase as an excellent employee. For example, a new supervisor at GS-13, step 1, in San Francisco whose performance exceeds expectations is entitled to an in-grade pay increase of $2,357 after 52 weeks at that step. Another newly promoted supervisor at that same grade and step, but whose performance is barely adequate is also entitled to the exact same pay increase after 52 weeks.
8. Under the current civil service system, it can take up to five months to hire qualified personnel. For example, in order to hire a specialized inspections official at the Customs Service, the following process would have to be followed:
Develop written job description -- 4 weeks
Ask Personnel to establish and fill position -- 2 weeks
Classify position for series and grade -- 4 weeks
Conduct job analysis to determine critical elements of job -- 1 week
Develop recruiting strategy -- 1 week
Announce position -- 3 weeks
Rate applicants to determine qualifications -- 2 weeks
Rank qualified applicants -- 1 week
Refer top three qualified applicants and schedule interviews -- 2 weeks
Conduct interviews, select candidate, and notify -- 1 week
Only thing the DemocRATs seem to care about as witnessed this week is protecting incompetent union workers!
Please check this out -- some examples of how the Unions have been operating in the Federal Government since 9/11. If you were mad at daschle/clinton/byrd/gore/kennedy before, you will be even madder after reading this!
The system should be streamlined immediately, especially as it relates to homeland security. The real problem here is, the power of special interests and federal unions that care more about someone's job, then they do about the lives of the American people.
Exactly. But let's be clear: another government organization will be susceptible to these very same problems.
It's amazing!
Later in 1998, Senator Tom Daschle - now the Senate Majority Leader -- lobbied for a Congressional resolution to take "all necessary measures" to respond to the Iraqi threat. At the time, a large number of U.S. allies opposed any U.S. military action. Daschle responded to questions about the need for action this way: "Look, we have exhausted, virtually, our diplomatic effort to get the Iraqis to comply with their own agreements and with international law. Given that, what other option is there but to force them to do so?"
My understanding is that there will be a union for these employees (many are being transferred from other departments where they're already a union member), and that the fight is over how much power the Prez will have to void the usual union protections. The cites in this article are mostly about unions that tried to assert some protection, but backed down when threatened with the national security clause of their contract.
Did I miss the boat on this one? (I've been busy lately, so it's possible.)
Let's hope the RNC uses some ads with this material. W is right...the Dems care more about federal unions than they do about national security.
Since about Spring, I have had the vague but powerful sense that the World once again stands before a "great turning," like World War One or Two. Pray God we all have the courage to do what we need to do, when it needs to be done...
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