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AFGE Week in Review (May 26, 2008)
Senate Votes to Give BOP Additional $178 Million:
AFGE Bureau of Prisons activists scored one of the year's
first major victories when the Senate May 22 passed a
fiscal 2008 supplemental spending bill that would increase
funding for BOP by $178 million. The money is urgently
needed to deal with dangerous understaffing problems at
federal prisons across the country. The additional money
has already been included in the House version of the
bill, which passed May 15.
The additional funding for BOP is part of the 2008 domestic
spending package that was added to the Iraq War
Supplemental Bill. AFGE staff and activists worked
especially hard to garner support in the Senate because of
the White House's objection to the domestic portion of the
spending bill. The Senate voted 75-22 – well over 60
votes needed – to include the domestic package. The
victory is a testament to the hard work of AFGE BOP locals
in educating senators about the dangers in their
workplaces.
TSA Suspends Image Testing at DTW after AFGE's Protest:
The Transportation Security Administration at Metropolitan
Detroit Airport (DTW) last week suspended the Image
Assessment (IMA) testing until further notice after AFGE
raised the issue of faulty training and testing procedures
which has resulted in several Transportation Security
Officers failing the test. AFGE brought the issue to
the attention of DTW management two weeks ago after five
TSOs failed their IMA test despite receiving high scores
during training. The TSOs said the test images are
nothing like the images they were trained on. They said
that it was difficult for them to get the training needed,
and when they got it, the training did not prepare them
for the type of images they saw on the test. Failing an
IMA can subject TSOs to termination.
The same day the TSOs were informed that they had not passed
the IMA testing, an AFGE attorney and a national
representative went to the airport to meet with the five
TSOs – all of whom were completely devastated over the
situation. The TSOs, each a model employee, also met with
the DTW federal security director on May 20 to discuss the
issue. The FSD reportedly told the TSOs that he was
actively working to resolve the issue without terminating
anybody and that he expects to have a decision within 10
days. AFGE is investigating the impact on airports
nationwide.
AFGE's Double DRB Victories in Florida, Arizona:
Two TSOs at Phoenix Airport and Sarasota Bradenton
International Airport may return to work after AFGE this
month won two Disciplinary Review Board cases in which the
TSOs were unjustly removed. The TSOs were removed early
this year for failing to follow screening procedures. The
Phoenix TSO was also charged with causing damage to the
airport's property. In both cases, AFGE argued that the
punishment was too harsh and that TSA failed to follow the
doctrine of progressive disciplinary in its decision to
remove the TSOs. The DRB overturned the removals and
reinstated the TSOs.
AFGE J. David Cox Details Personnel Problems at VA:
AFGE National Secretary-Treasurer J. David Cox testified
on May 21 and 22 before Senate and House panels on health
care personnel issues facing the Veterans Affairs
Department. Cox, who worked at VA as a registered nurse
for 22 years, said he saw several changes in the past
seven years that hurt rather than help recruitment and
retention of health care professionals at the VA. He said
the most harmful personnel policy in place today is the
encroachment on Title 38 employees' collective bargaining
rights, including the right to challenge personnel
actions, arbitrations, labor-management negotiations, and
unfair labor practices. VA denies these rights by broadly
interpreting Sec. 7422 of Title 38, the law providing
collective bargaining rights to registered nurses,
physicians and other front line providers. . In passing
the law in 1991, Congress carved out very narrow
exceptions for matters relating to direct patient care, peer
review and compensation, but VA management interprets
these exceptions very broadly to mean virtually all
workplace issues. But thanks to several lawmakers who
understand how this problem hurts the agency, bills that
would fix the problem were recently introduced in the
House and the Senate.
Cox also listed several bills that AFGE supports that would
help VA serve our veterans better, including the bill that
would make funding for VA mandatory, the bill that would
improve and expand health care services to women veterans,
and the bill that would provide nurses with better pay,
schedules and education assistance. However, there
are a few provisions in these bills that the union finds
problematic, including a provision in the Veteran Health
Care Act that would weaken the right of doctors and
dentists to reimbursement for the costs of continuing
medical education.
NSPS Pay Regulations Published:
The Defense Department last week issued new proposed
regulations for its National Security Personnel System (NSPS).
AFGE is studying the new rules and will offer its
comments.
Inside Government:
Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, was a guest on AFGE's
radio program "Inside Government" on May 23.
Abercrombie discussed the presidential race and the
needs of veterans returning home from war. Also featured
on the show was Les Leopold, author of "The Man Who
Hated Work and Loved Labor: The Life and Times of Tony
Mazzocchi." Mazzocchi was vice president and
secretary-treasurer of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic
Workers International Union, as well as a driving force
behind the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
Inside Government airs
every Friday at 10 a.m. EDT nationwide on www.federalnewsradio.com
and 1050 AM in the Washington, D.C., area. The one-hour
program discusses issues that impact all federal and D.C.
government employees. Programs are archived on the Federal
News Radio Web site and can be heard on demand (available
anytime) at http://www.federalnewsradio.com/?nid=300.
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