Federal Daily - July 13, 2009

NTEU Backs Bill Offering Full Union Rights To TSOs

The House Homeland Security Committee this week marked up a bill to provide Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees with full collective bargaining rights. The Transportation Security Workforce Enhancement Act of 2009, H.R. 1881, would place Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) under the General Schedule (GS) system and terminate the agency’s current, heavily criticized PASS (Performance and Accountability Standards System) system. “TSOs deserve to have the same civil service rights and protections that are already in place for other Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees,” National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Colleen M. Kelley said.
House Homeland Security Committee Chair Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, developed the measure—H.R.1881—and worked with NTEU to craft the long-awaited measure. The union, in a statement, reiterated that it helped nurture a grassroots movement to “urge TSA employees across the country to contact their congressional representatives in support of the bill.” “Passage of this legislation will enhance security at our nation’s airports by retaining experienced employees and reducing costs created by high attrition rates, allowing TSA to become a world class airport security agency,” Kelley said. For more, go to: www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/PressRelease.aspx?ID=1459

:: Back to Top ::

2.9 Percent Civilian Fed Pay Raise Advances; NTEU In Support

A key appropriations bill advanced through markup in the Senate Appropriations Committee this week offering a 2.9 percent pay raise for civilian federal employees. Although a full half-percent less than the 3.4 percent raise Congress approved for military servicemembers, the bill offered far more than the 2 percent raise passed by the House Appropriations Committee earlier this week—and the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) on July 10 announced its backing for the Senate bill. NTEU “welcomes approval by the Senate Appropriations Committee of a 2.9 percent pay raise for civilian federal employees in 2010,” the union said. “This level would match the President’s proposal for the military pay raise in his FY 2010 budget. While Congress has now raised the military level from the President’s budget proposal of 2.9 percent to 3.4 percent in the pending House and Senate Department of Defense Authorization bills, the increase for federal employees is significant.” The union said it would “work to include at least the 2.9 percent” in the final appropriations bill, while stating that it also “continues to support the principle of military-civilian pay parity.” The union also issued its support for a provision in the appropriations bill that would extend the current moratorium on public-private competitions for federal work for another year. For more, go to: www.nteu.org/

:: Back to Top ::

AFGE Reaffirms Support For Domestic Partner Benefits

The president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) this week reiterated his union’s support for a bill currently being considered in Congress that would provide government benefits to domestic partners of federal employees equal to those given to spouses. The Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act (H.R. 2517), and its companion bill (S. 1102), would permit federal employees to file a legal statement declaring the identity of their domestic partner with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). OPM, would verify that a partner is sharing financial responsibility in the home and confirm that partner’s eligibility. Once determined eligible, a domestic partner could take advantage of the same benefits as spouses, such as healthcare, retirement, workers’ compensation, death and disability, among other benefits granted to spouses of federal employees. “Within the private sector, many companies already have extended these benefits to same-sex partners. Withholding benefits in the public sector will affect recruiting among the next generation of employees,” AFGE President John Gage declared in testimony to the House of Representatives last week. “It is now time for the federal government to step up. We support the enactment of H.R. 2517 for equality among the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community.” The House version was introduced by Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., while the Senate bill’s chief sponsor is Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn. “It is imperative that this legislation be passed,” Gage commented. “This is a matter of equality that needs to be addressed.” For more, go to: www.afge.org/Index.cfm?Page=PressReleases&PressReleaseID=1017.

:: Back to Top ::