FederalDaily - March 7, 2007

Senate Nixes Amendment to Cut TSA Bargaining Provision

The Senate on March 6 voted down an attempt to deny Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screeners collective bargaining rights included in pending legislation. Senators voted 51-46 against an amendment included by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., that would have excised from the broader 9/11 Commission Recommendations bill a measure to provide collective bargaining rights for TSA employees. Reacting to the vote, DeMint said collective bargaining “will tie TSA’s hands with needless red tape and create a homeland security disaster.” President Bush has threatened to veto the bill if it contains the provision. According to DeMint, who has been at the forefront of an effort to sustain that veto if it comes, 36 senators and 146 House members have signed letters pledging to back the veto. For more, go to: http://demint.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=449.

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OSHA Inspections Possible at DOI HQ

The Occupational Health & Safety Administration (OSHA) has notified Department of Interior (DOI) officials that it will initiate safety inspections at the DOI headquarters complex unless it receives confirmation by March 7 that workplace hazards there have been corrected. The warning was contained in a Feb. 27 OSHA notice released on March 5 by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The notice centers on complaints about unsafe storage of combustible chemicals such as gasoline, as well as electrical hazards in wet areas, jammed fire exit doors and missing exit signs, PEER said. The notice is the latest development in complaints about workplace safety at DOI’s aging downtown headquarters building complex where PEER says employees are daily exposed to health, safety and environmental hazards. The hazards were detailed in a new internal DOI audit and come amid rising employee health complaints during a 10-year project to renovate the 71-year-old building while occupied. “Like the long-standing conditions at Walter Reed, corrective action will not take place at Interior until these problems have been fully exposed to the light of day,” said PEER senior counsel Paula Dinerstein. To see more, go to: www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=829

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Wilkinson Appointed as GSA Acquisition Chief

General Services Administration (GSA) Administrator Lurita Doan on March 5 named Molly Wilkinson as the agency’s chief acquisition officer. Established in 2004, the Office of Chief Acquisition Officer (OCAO) is responsible for developing and reviewing acquisition policies, procedures and related training for both GSA and federal acquisition professionals. Wilkinson most recently served as associate deputy secretary for management at the Department of Labor (DOL), where she provided counsel on internal agency operations regarding management, budget and personnel issues. GSA manages more than one-fourth of the government’s total procurement dollars.

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