JULY 12, 2002


GILES FILES
By
Duncan Giles
President
NTEU Chapter 49


On this and that.  First, I’d like to thank the employees of the Evansville office for being so happy to see me on 6/18 that they threw an earthquake in my honor.  Kudos to LMSB Agent Marianne Schmitt for being the only IRS employee there to have the common sense to get out of the building.  As for me, apparently an earthquake isn’t even enough to get me off the phone.  

The new Terre Haute office is a huge upgrade over the old one.  When the parking situation is straightened out it will be as close to acceptable to the employees as an IRS office can be.  In South Bend, all of the employees are hoping they will be moving within a year.  That goes double for me!

At the Call Site, we will be doing a desk drop soon (if you haven’t gotten it by the time you read this) to address some of the questions that have come up in the past couple of weeks on different issues.

Look for an update on our Web site (www.nteu49.org) by July 12th from RO Karen McKibben on the status of the non-filing season agreement.  Can you say unbelievable?  

On July 1st we started life under the new agreement that succeeded NORD V.  For most employees the best change will be will be the ability to take comp time, credit hours, sick leave and annual leave in 15 minute increments.  You may also earn comp and credit time in 15 minute increments.  The bad news is that NTEU is going to be held to tighter scrutiny than we ever have before.  That doesn’t bother me except for the fact that some managers are already trying to go overboard on this.  I am very fearful that this could ultimately harm employees’ right to seek counsel.  One problem I am already seeing is that we will not be able to resolve issues informally nearly as often as before.  In the past week alone I’ve had to file two institutional grievances (on issues that impact Chapter 49 as a whole) and a third step request.  It’s my understanding that management thought the new way of processing grievances would alleviate their “burden.”  Unfortunately, if the early returns are any indication, it’s going to be just the opposite with both management and NTEU  buried under piles of paperwork.  Well, this is how management wanted it at the bargaining table, so I guess it will fall under the old saying—”Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it.”

That’s it for now.         

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   4.1% RAISE FOR 2003
LOOKS MORE POMISING,
BUT NOT GUARANTEED


The House Treasury Appropriations Subcommittee voted June 26th to give federal employees a 4.1% average pay raise for 2003.  President Bush had recommended a 2.6% average wage hike for next year.  This vote does not guarantee federal workers will actually receive the higher raise amount in 2003, but approval in this key committee is a major step forward in getting it done.

This could be both good and bad news for IRS workers.  The IRS spending plan is extremely labor-intensive, with about 70% of the budget going to salaries (that is much, much higher than most federal agencies).  If Congress fails to add funding to pay for the additional raise, IRS could be in for another tough budget year in 2003.       

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OMB'S MODEL FOR
GOOD GOVERNMENT?


The Bush folks have been promising specifics on changes for the administration of the federal government they plan to propose.  What details we have on proposals such as the Homeland Security Agency  are troubling.  The latest details come from deep in the White House brain trust, from the former Eli Lilly executive, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Mitch Daniels.  According to the Federal Times, Daniels said the following to a group of federal executives..."(Osama) bin Laden, I'm quite certain, did not have a four-layer appeals process before he could discipline an employee."  Daniels is also quoted as saying, "He (bin Laden) did not have 27 three-part forms to fill out before he could procure  the weapons with which he seeks to hurt us."  A Federal Times editorial said it best - "...the idea that Osama bin Laden might somehow be a role model for better government is absurd."  We all want an effective government and more efficient one.  But Daniels remarks are not helpful.  They do, however, give us a glimpse of the Bush White House view of the federal government and its employees.

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HOMELAND SECURITY


The new “Homeland Security Agency” proposed by the Bush administration has at least two major problems in our view.  First, there is no additional funding in this plan.  Just talk to a Customs Inspector now working 10-12 hour days, and you get a genuine feel for the funding required to have the kind of border security Americans expect.

Second, there appears to be no provision to allow employees of this agency to be represented by unions.  NTEU has represented Customs Service employees for a very long time.     

It would be tragic if the terrorists succeeded in taking away the freedom of the employees in any new “Homeland Security Agency” to be represented by a union.  NTEU will be working with members of Congress to ensure that workers in this new agency will have the opportunity to retain their union representation.  Our legislative department will also be working on providing adequate funding for Customs and the other components of the new agency.