October 18, 2002



GILES FILES

By
Duncan Giles
President
NTEU Chapter 49


On this and that.... It should be another interesting filing season.  It's usually crazy but this year should really qualify as a three ring circus. Here's what I see so far….

The TACs (walk-ins) don't have enough staff since their hiring was cut once again.

SB/SE does not want to provide any support but will probably still be required to provide support to certain degree (how much is anyone's guess at this point).

R-Mail support is still a huge question mark (LMSB? SB/SE? No R-Mail at all? Handled by the Call Sites?).

With IRS national serving notice on NTEU National that they are trying to terminate the vast majority of local agreements and modify the few remaining ones, will we still be able to bargain locally on filing season? If we are able to negotiate, will SB/SE Area 7 honor (and sign) contracts they agree to at the bargaining table?

Will we finally be able to come up with a system that will allow Commissioner Representatives to know what the heck is going on in their PODs?

These are just some of the issues we are gearing up for at NTEU. Once again RO Karen McKibben will be spearheading Chapter 49's initiatives in this area. Karen has proved to be a great problem solver in dealing with these issues and is once again willing to throw herself into this fray. We will keep you informed via the newsletter and website.

To close, I've been hearing some rumblings about newer Call Site seasonal employees. Some of them have been told that due to their furloughs, their probationary period has been extended.  After reviewing the federal regulations with a fine tooth comb, it appears furloughs of more than 22 work days will extend the probationary period of a seasonal employee.  This will apply to a number of Call Site seasonal workers that were hired at around this time last year.  If you have any questions about how this works for an individual employee, ask a Chapter 49 steward and we’ll go through the process with you.  There was some initial confusion about this issue since the regulations governing such situations are quite complex.  Again, if you have any further questions or concerns, contact a steward.   

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NOTES FROM THE VP


Chapter 49 Vice President Susan Wright passes along the following items of note...

--On Monday, September 23, 2002, Liberty Mutual Insurance Co (who provides benefits for NTEU members) helped us celebrate labor recognition week at the call site. They not only purchased 300 donuts for the employees and offered information about their programs, they also had a drawing for a door prize.  The prize was an auto safety kit to carry in your car. A very appropriate gift since winter is fast approaching.  NTEU member William Keltz won the prize.

--Chapter 49 members should be aware of the 6% pay retention bonus for training assignments outside commuting area provided by the new national agreement.  One member questioned me about it & stated that he would have taken such an assignment had he known. It cost him over $300.





TIME TO VOTE


Article 36, Section 2 of the National Agreement deals with administrative time available to IRS employees to allow them to vote.  Whether you are eligible depends on your tour of duty.  For example, if your tour of duty begins at 8:00 in the morning and ends at 4:45 in the afternoon, you are eligible.  In Indiana, the polls open at 6:00 AM and close at 6:00 PM.  The contract language says that there is a three-hour allowance, depending on your tour and the hours the polls are open in your particular state.  A large number of employees represented by Chapter 49 will be eligible to take advantage of this administrative time.  Now is the time to notify your manager if you are eligible and wish to take the time.  Any denial must be immediately referred to an executive for final consideration.


    

BUDGET IMPASSE:
WHAT IT COULD MEAN


Congress has failed to enact any of the 13 appropriations bills funding government for the fiscal year 2003 (which began October 1, 2002), including the Treasury-Postal Appropriations legislation that funds IRS.  As we go to press, the government is being funded through a series of short-term “continuing resolutions.” Even though no government shutdown appears imminent, the fact that federal agencies do not know their budget amounts could have a serious impact on how efficiently government is managed.  

Another troubling long-term budget development was revealed in a September 27th article in Tax Notes, a respected tax publication from Tax Analysts.  Commentator George Guttman cites “IRS sources familiar with the situation” as saying Commissioner Charles Rossotti was prevented from testifying before a key Congressional subcommittee by the Office of Management and Budget.  Guttman writes that his unnamed IRS sources claim the Commissioner “would be going off the reservation” by asking Congress to provide more money for IRS than the administration has recommended.   
Another casualty of the current budget logjam could be the federal employee pay raise for calendar year 2003.  Both houses of Congress have gone on record as favoring a 4.1% average pay raise for federal workers.  Most Chapter 49 members would see a pay hike of roughly 4% under that scheme (except the Merrillville folks, who would see a higher pay raise since they are tied-in to the Chicago locality).  However, if agency budgets are not enacted reasonably soon, there is a danger President Bush could enact a 3.1% average pay raise, lowering the pay increase. by a full percentage point.  




PROGRESS MADE ON SURVEY
RESULTS & QSIs


Those of us that have been around union work long enough to know the history of IRS-NTEU partnership efforts and the employee survey often are asked just what employees get out of those efforts.  There are two recent examples at the national level that demonstrate what can be achieved.

At the Service-wide Partnership Council (which covers all IRS activities, regardless of where you work) NTEU Executive Vice President Frank Ferris has argued for some time that managers must be more accountable when employee survey results are low time after time.  There are four survey questions that focus on the variation between managers scoring high or low on the survey results.  The four are…
—In the past seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.
—There is someone at work who encourages my development.
—At work, my opinions seem to count.
—In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.
A study of those four questions by the Partnership Council shows that managers that have made a personal connection with their employees and show concern for their people get high scores.  Deputy Commissioner Bob Wenzel told the Council he keeps a list of low-scoring managers at this desk.  NTEU is not trying to punish low scoring managers, but will continue to urge help for low-scoring managers to improve and will argue that the agency should consider these low scores when it comes time to reward managers.

Also, NTEU has used the national-level Partnership Council to push for more Quality Step Increases (QSIs).  Four years ago, only 1.7% of rank-and-file IRS workers received a QSI.  After pointing out that IRS has consistently been far below almost all federal agencies in giving QSIs, NTEU used the partnership process to promote more QSIs.  Our efforts are showing results.  Figures from last year show that 7.5% of the permanent full-time IRS staff received QSIs.  This is a major step forward.  There are still some QSI issues to resolve, including disparities between bargaining and non-bargaining employees and major differences found among operating divisions.  

To contact Chapter 49, call 317-226-6841, or e-mail us at nteu49@aol.com.  Visit our Web site at
www.nteu49.org