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Head of Largest VA Union Urges Lawmakers to Protect Workers’ Representation Rights
American Federation of Government Employees ^ | February 16, 2017 | American Federation of Government Employees National President J. David Cox Sr.

Posted on 02/16/2017 6:46:58 PM PST by mdittmar

Use of official time by union representatives results in better care for veterans, AFGE leader says

WASHINGTON – The head of the largest union representing federal and D.C government workers today urged Congress and the Trump administration to protect the decades-old right of employees to have fair representation at the worksite.

In testimony delivered today before two House subcommittees, American Federation of Government Employees National President J. David Cox Sr. said employee representatives at the Department of Veterans Affairs have used the process called official time to work with employees and managers to resolve disputes, address issues of discrimination and retaliation, and effect improvements in the workplace that benefit veterans.

(Excerpt) Read more at afge.org ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 02/16/2017 6:46:58 PM PST by mdittmar
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To: mdittmar

...I’ll bet the government employees who were “responsible” for throwing out thousands of medical records of vets are still employed by
the government


2 posted on 02/16/2017 6:53:46 PM PST by Doogle (( USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated)))
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To: mdittmar

**effect improvements in the workplace that benefit veterans**

Not once did I see the union “effect improvements” on a military base.


3 posted on 02/16/2017 7:00:47 PM PST by Gamecock
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To: mdittmar

Yes because as everyone knows the only reason the VA exists is to provide jobs for hundreds of thousands of “workers.”


4 posted on 02/16/2017 7:02:52 PM PST by Steely Tom (Liberals think in propaganda)
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To: mdittmar

HOWARD PHILLIPS -NIXON – OEO

TRUMP VS THE APPARATCHIKS
During the Nixon Administration, arch conservative, presidential candidate and founder of the Conservative Caucus Howard Phillips headed two federal agencies, ending his executive branch career as director of the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) for five months in 1973, a position from which he resigned when Nixon reneged on his commitment to veto further funding for Great Society programs begun in the Johnson Administration.

Nixon’s appointment of Phillips as Director of OEO in January 1973 touched off a national controversy culminating in a court case in the US District Court in The District of Columbia (Williams v. Phillips, 482 F.2d 669) challenging the legality of Phillips’ appointment.
(The above two paragraphs from Wikipedia don’t tell the full story.)

Phillips went to the OEO with the intention of DISMANTLING at least that much of Johnson’s Great Society socialist agenda. That MAY have been why Nixon put the outspoken conservative in the slot as a feeler for how far he might go toward paring down the bureaucracy Johnson had ballooned to new and higher levels. We will never know. The bureaucrats at OEO knew what Howard was up to when this conservative firebrand was appointed and filed the lawsuit referenced above. Not content to wait for the court to render a decision, a delegation of OEO bureaucrats made it clear to Nixon that he would have “problems” if he allowed Phillips to remain and continue to pursue his take-down of the agency.

Nixon caved and dismissed Howard, allowing him to save face by presenting his departure as a voluntary act.

Which brings us to the mess currently developing for Donald Trump!

Since the Nixon Administration the “Deep State” bureaucracy has grown in size and clout by orders of magnitude. What we are now witnessing in Washington today is just the beginning of a full-on assault on Trump’s expressed goal of CUTTING THE BUREAUCRACY with the Beltway apparatchiks in full cry and fury in their efforts to frustrate his plan. That they are putting that effort AHEAD of the security of the nation seems to be of no concern to most of them.

Let me wrap this by reminding you that the PRIME DIRECTIVE of nearly every bureaucracy in history has been to expand its SIZE and POWER. Because most of them are not merit based, the way to move up is to continue to load the bottom with new people. That’s the size component. And the power part will be completely understood by anyone who has had an “experience” with the EPA, DOE, IRS, etc.

President Trump and those of us who support him are in for the ride of our lives. And HE is probably already asking himself “What in the hell is wrong with me? Why did I DO this?”

He did this because he loves this country and was deeply concerned with our direction.

We out here in “Flyover Country” should be equally concerned that his sentiment is not shared by the entrenched apparatchiks in the “Deep State”.

Buckle up. And President Trump – keep that flak jacket handy!
Dick Bachert 2/2017


5 posted on 02/16/2017 7:56:10 PM PST by Dick Bachert (THE 4TH ESTATE HERE HAS BECOME A 5TH COLUMN. DIDN'T WE IMPRISON TOKYO ROSE???)
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To: mdittmar

FDR was totally unsupportive of public sector employee’s unions, that is govt. employees being allowed to collective bargain as a union.

Quote: “All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service,” he wrote. “It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management.”

Roosevelt didn’t stop there.

“The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations,” he wrote.

“The employer,” Roosevelt’s letter added, “is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives in Congress. Accordingly, administrative officials and employees alike are governed and guided, and in many instances restricted, by laws which establish policies, procedures, or rules in personnel matters.”

Article here: www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2013/aug/13/scott-walker/Did-FDR-oppose-collective-bargaining-for-governmen/


6 posted on 02/16/2017 8:13:28 PM PST by John S Mosby (Sic Semper Tyrannis)
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To: mdittmar

Hey hey, ho ho. Government unions gotta go.


7 posted on 02/16/2017 8:15:59 PM PST by Sgt_Schultze (If a border fence isn't effective, why is there a border fence around the White House?)
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To: John S Mosby

hmmm. The Fed employee union is not only untouchable, it is defended by the Dept of InJustice making it nearly invincible. NO BALANCE OF POWER making it a fascist branch?


8 posted on 02/17/2017 5:22:14 AM PST by huldah1776 ( Vote Pro-life! Allow God to bless America before He avenges the death of the innocent.)
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To: mdittmar

I was just thinking about the employees right to representation. I think the DOJ should get out of defending the VA in court and if an employee can’t afford a lawyer, let them get their own lawyers like the rest of us.


9 posted on 02/17/2017 5:26:34 AM PST by huldah1776 ( Vote Pro-life! Allow God to bless America before He avenges the death of the innocent.)
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