FederalDaily - January 30, 2006

Reservists Make out Well

Most U.S. military reservists called to active duty in 2003 have seen their earnings rise—not fall—when called to service, according to a RAND Corp. study issued on Jan. 25. The RAND study, commissioned by the Defense Department, showed that 72 percent of the more than 100,000 troops surveyed saw their earnings jump 25 percent when called to active duty. Their average pay hike amounted to about $10,000 a year, RAND officials said. However, the researchers also found that 28 percent of reservists studied lost pay after being called to active duty. About one-fifth of the survey group lost 10 or more percent of their normal income. “Our findings contradict the prevailing belief that most reservists lose pay when called to active duty,” said Jacob Klerman, a RAND senior economist and lead author of the study.

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NTEU Lobbies for LEO Status for CBP

Citing a recent incident when two Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers were involved in a high-speed chase of two murder suspects, National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Colleen Kelley said CBP officers need to be designated as “federal law enforcement officers.” She said they have been unfairly denied this status, which impacts their pay and benefits. NTEU said the chase incident “clearly illustrates that CBP officers are trained and are expected to act as law enforcement professionals.” According to the union, the CBP employees involved were armed, had the authority to arrest the suspects, and faced the danger of either being shot or run down by fleeing suspects in a car. “LEO status for these men and women remains a high priority for NTEU,” Kelley said.

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Union Addresses Negotiations with FAA

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) announced a new bill, the Federal Aviation Administration Fair Labor Management Dispute Resolution Act of 2006, which the union said would close loopholes in the negotiating process between NATCA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The legislation will be sponsored by Sens. Barrack Obama, D-Ill., Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J. Currently, if NATCA and the FAA cannot reach an agreement, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) assists with the negotiations. The loophole, NATCA President John Carr said, is that if unresolved after FMCS efforts, the FAA brings its proposal before Congress—if Congress does not act within 60 days, the agreement may be unilaterally implemented by the FAA. But the new bill would require that, if Congress does not take action within 60 days, the proposal would go to the same binding arbitration used with other agency-union disputes. Carr added that NATCA hoped to close the loophole to get the FAA to “negotiate in good faith.” Carr did note that recent negotiations have gone smoothly.

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Servicemembers Guilty of Bribery and Extortion

Three current and three former U.S. military members were among eight to plead guilty to a bribery and extortion conspiracy that lasted from January 2002 to March 2004, the Department of Justice last week. Each defendant had escorted at least one shipment of cocaine (for a combined 700 kilograms) to locations in Arizona and Nevada. They accepted a total of $55,000 in bribes. On Aug. 22, 2002, three of the defendants used government vehicles, including two military Humvees, to make the shipment. The eight participants all agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy involving bribery and using official positions (including using official uniforms and identification) to aide narcotics trafficking. The maximum penalty is a five-year imprisonment sentence and a $250,000 fine.

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