CHAPTER 49 NEWS
FEBRUARY 15, 2002

GILES FILES

By
Duncan Giles
President
NTEU Chapter 49

On this & that.  It looks like we will have mandatory OT for around a dozen folks at the Call Site for Presidents Day.  This is a bullet we’ve managed to dodge in Indiana previously but it caught up with us this time.  Originally, we were scheduled to have 3 times that many work.  Due to the efforts of management & Chapter 49, we were able to reduce that by about two/thirds.  We got hit a heck of a lot less than most sites due to the number of people who volunteered.  I say thank you for your efforts.

The Service had an IVT (video-conference) on violence in the workplace on February 4th.  Sadly, it was poorly attended by management as a whole all over the country.  There were several sites that had NTEU presence but no one from management in attendance (including Indianapolis HQ).  That was just sad.

Lastly, here go the kudos to the stewards for this issue.  Pats on the back (in no particular order) go to Kellie Baldwin, Nickole Johnson, Mike Keethers & Fred Mecum at the Call Site.  From Indy HQ we recognize Scott Carder, Dean Crawford, Pam Fruggeriero & Cynthia Underwood.  From the PODs we salute the good works of Delores Bell, Teresa Bohnert, Anne Brown, Janet Johnson, Brian Kosteck, Karen McKibben, Cheryl Tolbert, Donna Wolfe & Susan Wright.  Once again, these are just the stewards that I can think of that are working or have worked an issue (or issues) in the last two weeks.  So if you think the Chapter is not out there working for you, take a look at the list of recognized stewards and reassess your opinion. :-)

That’s it for now.
 

MEETING IN MERRILLVILLE

(EDITOR’S NOTE:  Territory 1 Manager Bill Pittman met with representatives of Chapter 49 January 29th to discuss the transition contract for SB/SE .  Steward Dean Crawford attended the meeting, and filed this report)

The meeting proved to be informative and enlightening.  Chapter 49 effectively and firmly addressed many aspects of this agreement and made its voice heard.  Mr. Pittman was receptive and appeared to desire cooperation and partnership in addressing this agreement.  Your local chapter representatives are hopeful that Mr. Pittman’s managers will implement a reasonable and acceptable approach to this agreement.  Mr. Pittman stated that his hopes are that his managers will “mirror” his position.

Here are some of the major points covered in the meeting:

—The migration of work to TEC will not be finalized until the work has been identified, employees trained and the needs of the stakeholders addressed.

—The amount of read time is subjective and requires managers and employees to work together to define the amount.  Employees cannot be held responsible for information that they have not had time to review and disseminate.  There is no predetermined allowable amount of read time.  Managers must work with employees and consider their individual circumstances.

—Revenue Officers should not automatically be assigned the maximum amount of cases per the IRM.  Emphasis should be placed on managers and employees working together to define the appropriate amount of cases without predetermination.

—Managers and employees should be proactive in pursuing IDPs (Individual Development Plans) and taking advantage of career enhancing tools.  Managers cannot force employees to develop such tools, yet managers should identify opportunities and assist employees in their careers.  Managers and employees should develop IDPs with specific goals, paths, timeframes and steps in order for the IDPs to be something other than “another piece of paper in the drop file.”

Employees should take note of the positive approach by Mr. Pittman as defined by the stewards  who attended his meeting, and demand that managers follow his lead.

If you have questions about the agreement, the meeting or any other aspect of these issues, please contact your local steward or the NTEU Chapter 49 office.
 

THE BUSH 2003 BUDGET:
GOOD AND BAD NEWS

President Bush has released his budget proposal for fiscal year 2003, and it contains good and bad news.  First, the bad news.  The administration is proposing a 2.6% pay raise for civilian federal workers, ending the long-standing practice of roughly identical raises for civilian and military pay.  The armed forces would get a 4.1% raise in the Bush budget.  NTEU supports the 4.1% raise for the military.  They more than deserve it.  But civilian federal workers take risks these days as well.  The Oklahoma City bombing clearly targeted federal workers and their children.  Civilian federal employees were killed and injured in the Pentagon and World Trade Center attacks.  Members of Congress and the Senate friendly to federal employees will work hard to increase the civilian raise for 2003, but it will be a tough fight.  The good news is that the president is on board to make major changes in section 1203, the so-called “ten deadly sins” that can result in the automatic firing of an IRS employee We’ll provide more details on that proposal in a future issue of the Chapter 49 News.