Fwd: President's Newsletter
Dick Goodwin
From: Zahm, Marilyn <Marily...@ssa.gov>
Date: Mon, Jun 4, 2018 at 1:59 PM
Subject: President's Newsletter
To:
June 4, 2018
PRESIDENT’S NEWSLETTER
Executive Orders
You have probably heard by now that the White House issued three Executive Orders on May 25, 2018 that affect the rights of federal employees to bargain and act collectively. These orders, if allowed to stand, will severely restrain AALJ’s ability to represent you both in negotiating our contract and in grievance and arbitration matters. We will be posting these orders on our website at www.aalj.org.
One of the orders has the effect of curtailing the amount of time that can be spent on bargaining a new contract, prohibiting bargaining on certain issues, and requiring that certain terms limiting the union’s ability to represent its members be made part of the contract. Clearly, the point of this order is to ensure that agencies can remove all of our rights and benefits from our contract and get the impasse to the FSIP as soon as possible – where the FSIP will simply rubber stamp what the agencies want.
Equally problematic is another order which would prevent the use of official time in representing members in grievance and arbitration matters and in consulting with Congress regarding our judicial independence, job security and working conditions, among other things. The order would reduce our contractually guaranteed official time from 22,000 to 1500 hours. Should anything be left in the contract to benefit us, we will have no official time to enforce the contract nor will we have official time to seek assistance from Congress. You should know that SSA has its employee representatives imbedded in Congressional staff committees – including the House Social Security Subcommittee, where many of our issues are taken up. The agency does not want a level playing field; it wants all information to come from it, not the AALJ.
We have had success in Congress with our issues. Can you imagine what would have happened if we had not had a hearing before the Senate Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management in 2016, where Senators pressured the agency into abandoning its plan to have AAJs hold hearings and issue decisions? We have only been able to prevent the agency from further eroding our working conditions and job security because we have developed relationships with Congressional representatives.
The same is true for grievance and arbitration matters. This is the only real way we have to enforce our contractual and statutory rights, given that the FLRA and FSIP are in the hands of anti-union decision-makers.
The AALJ, through our affiliation with the IFPTE, will be joining a coalition of unions – including AFGE, NTEU, and NFFE – to overturn these executive orders through Congressional action and litigation. Two lawsuits have been filed to date and a plan of attack has been put in place with Congress.
Our collective bargaining agreement will not expire until September 30, 2018, and no changes pursuant to the above executive orders can be made while the contract is in effect and the parties bargain a new contract. The agency will make the substance of these executive orders part of their demands.
Your AALJ Regional Vice President will tell you how you can help us overturn these orders.
Request for the Inspector General to Conduct Audits
AALJ has requested OIG to audit the VHR Single Provider Contract, as noted below. This Contract has seriously impeded the work in the hearing offices by stripping our clerical staff to fill in as VHRs at hearings when the contractor’s VHR doesn’t show up.
We have also asked for an OIG audit of the practice of outsourcing the determination of whether an individual is qualified to serve as a VE. The Agency’s practice in this regard violates its own policies.
I will have these requests posted on our website.
In Memoriam
I am sorry to report that Judge Edwin Kerstine of the Jackson Hearing Office passed away on May 20. Our condolences to his family and colleagues.
In Solidarity,
Marilyn Zahm
Dick Goodwin
From: Zahm, Marilyn <Marily...@ssa.gov>
Date: Wed, Jun 13, 2018 at 1:30 PM
Subject: President's Newsletter
To:
June 13, 2018
PRESIDENT’S NEWSLETTER
Executive Orders
The IFPTE, with which AALJ is affiliated, has joined with twelve other unions to file a lawsuit in the Federal Circuit seeking injunctive and declaratory relief with regard to the Executive Orders issued to destroy the ability of unions to represent federal employees. IFPTE is one of the named plaintiffs in the case. I have set out below the press release issued regarding this lawsuit. I will have a copy of the complaint posted on the AALJ website.
FEDERAL WORKERS ALLIANCE
COLLECTIVELY REPRESENTING OVER 300,000 FEDERAL WORKERS
Thirteen Unions File Lawsuit Saying Trump Executive Orders Violated the Rights of Congress and Federal Workers
WASHINGTON – A coalition of 13 unions, the Federal Workers Alliance (FWA), representing 300,000 federal workers employed in hundreds of occupations ranging from teachers in Department of Defense Dependent Schools, to Immigration Judges, to NASA rocket scientists, to welders at naval shipyards sued the Trump administration today for violating the rights of government workers to be represented by unions in their workplaces. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court of the District Columbia.
On May 25, the Friday before Memorial Day, Donald Trump signed three executive orders that the Federal Workers Alliance contends violated the due process and collective bargaining rights of workers employed by the federal government. “Donald Trump did not have the authority to issue these executive orders because the power to do so was not granted to him by either Congress or by the Constitution,” said Sarah Suszczyk, National Association of Government Employees and FWA Co-chair.
The unions’ lawsuit specifically addresses:
- Several sections of Executive Order 13836 (concerning time sent representing workers by union officials) usurp Congress’s legislative authority. The same executive order prohibits representatives from using official time to “prepare or pursue grievances (including arbitration of grievances) brought against an agency,” but allows it for employees working on their own behalf. Treating a union and its representatives differently from individual employees encroaches on a union’s right to take collective action.
- Executive Order 13837 (concerning due process rights) violates rules related to collective bargaining delegated to the Federal Labor Relations Authority, not the President.
- Executive Order 13839 (concerning merit principles) is an attempt to exclude matters from the negotiated grievance procedure, such as removals based on misconduct and incentive awards. Trump exceeded his authority by interfering with rights granted by Congress to unions and federal agencies to decide which matters are and are not subject to the negotiated grievance procedure, not the President.
The coalition is concerned that as systematic protections—such as representation, due process, and the right to communicate with Congress—are eroded for federal employees, whistleblowers and other workers will fall prey to political corruption and extortion.
“These protections were put in place to ensure that the men and women, who defend our borders and care for our veterans, have a voice in a workplace that is free from political influence,” said Erwin.
Two other unions representing federal workers, the American Federation of Government Employees and the National Treasury Employees Union, also have filed lawsuits citing violations of the First Amendment and other grounds.
The 13 unions that are party to the Federal Workers Alliance lawsuit are:
Federal Education Association/National Education Association (FEA/NEA)
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW)
International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT)
International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, AFL-CIO (IFPTE)
Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association, AFL-CIO (MEBA)
Metal Trades Department, AFL-CIO (MTD)
National Association of Government Employees, SEIU (NAGE)
National Federation of Federal Employees, IAMAW, AFL-CIO (NFFE)
National Labor Relations Board Professional Association (NLRBPA)
National Labor Relations Board Union (NLRBU)
National Weather Service Employees Organization (NWSEO)
Patent Office Professional Association (POPA)
Seafarers International Union/NMU, AFL-CIO (SIU)
# # #
VLTP Request
Judge Michael Calabro of our Orlando office is recovering from surgery and is in need of leave donations. If you can donate an hour or more of your accrued annual leave to Judge Calabro, he and his colleagues would be most appreciative.
The VLTP Authorization Form can be accessed at:
http://inform.ssahost.ba.ssa.gov/PDFs/ssa3139.pdf
Please complete the form and return it to
Ms. Pamela Cates/ Ms. Aimee Hernandez, Administrative Assistant(s)
Orlando Hearing Office
Phone: (877) 833-2730
Fax: (407) 380-3658
Timekeeper’s Number: 47500
In Solidarity,
Marilyn Zahm