FederalDaily - November 13, 2007

NTEU, SEC Sign New Pact

The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) has signed a new collective bargaining agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that expands employee benefits—including broader telework opportunities and the creation of an emergency “leave bank,” the union announced Nov. 9. Under the new contract, employees will be allowed to work from home up to five days a week and may participate in a leave-sharing program that allows enrolled employees to use annual leave that has been donated to a special leave bank by their colleagues. The contract also provides for a new compressed work schedule that allows employees to work four 10-hour days and take off one day per week. NTEU President Colleen Kelley praised the agreement. “Not only did we retain and improve upon several key employee rights and benefits, but we also successfully prevented many one-sided workplace proposals that the SEC tried to implement,” Kelley said. To see more, go to: www.nteu.org

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EEOC Closing Outsourced National Call Center

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced Nov. 7 that it is shutting down its outsourced National Contact Center (NCC) and will soon be opening up an in-house customer response system staffed by federal workers. EEOC commissioners voted down a three-month extension of the contract—by Vangent, Inc. (formerly Pearson Government Solutions)—after congressional appropriators eliminated funding for the private contract in EEOC’s Fiscal Year 2008 budget. The outsourced call center, based in Lawrence, Kan., will be shuttered Dec. 19. Calls and e-mails from the public after that will be directly routed to EEOC field offices throughout the country. The NCC currently receives and handles approximately 65,000 calls and 3,000 e-mails each month. “Creating an in-house system and making a seamless transition is a complex and time-consuming process,” said EEOC Chair Naomi C. Earp. “We continue working as quickly as we can to put a new system in place.” To see more, go to: www.eeoc.gov/press/11-7-07.html

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Bill Would Phase Out Combat Zone Security Contractors

In the wake of questionable performance by some private security contractors, legislators have introduced a new bill which, if passed, would phase out the use of those contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., the bill—the Stop Outsourcing Security (S.O.S.) Act—would reduce the government’s reliance on private security contractors in the theater of battle, Sander and Schakowsky said in a Nov. 7 statement. Armed private contractors have been under increasing scrutiny since a Sept. 16 shooting by guards provided by Blackwater USA which left 17 Iraqis dead and 24 wounded. Military officers in the field have said military contractors operate like “cowboys,” using unnecessary and excessive force, the lawmakers’ statement said. The bill would require that all diplomatic security in Iraq be undertaken by U.S. government personnel within six months of enactment. Also, existing security contracts would be phased out by Jan. 1, 2009, in places where Congress has authorized the use of force. The White House could seek limited exceptions, the lawmakers said. To see more, go to: www.sanders.senate.gov/news/record.cfm?id=286978

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