afge a a f & r · thirty-five afge local presidents attend orientation, training in washington,...

On Jan. 23, the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA)Health Care Programs Enhancement Act of 2001 wassigned into law. The law guarantees Saturday pre-mium pay for Title 5-Title 38 hybrids (LPN’s, phar-macists, physical therapists, occupational therapistsand respiratory therapists). The guarantee of Satur-

day premium pay for Title 5-Title 38 hybrids wentinto effect with respect to pay periods beginning onor after Jan. 23. This legislative victory for AFGE isour union’s first installment in our efforts to secureSaturday premium pay for all DVA employees.

(see AFGE Secures Saturday Pay in DVA on page 10)

Republican and Democratic Rep-resentatives sent a letter to PresidentGeorge Bush in February object-ing to Executive Order (E.O.)13252 that denies union represen-tation to more than 1,000 employ-ees at the Department of Justice(DoJ) because of national securityconcerns. The letter stated:

“We are writing to express ourstrong disagreement with your deci-sion to issue E.O. 13252 last month.We express this reservation at a timewhen we are united in our supportof your efforts to combat global ter-rorism. The American people, fore-most among them unionized firefighters, police officers and other pub-lic workers, have rallied to your callto service. But among the freedomsAmerica stands for are its freedom ofassociation and the right to organ-ize. To deny a group of American cit-izens—in this case citizens in serviceto our government and the pursuitof justice—such a fundamentalhuman right is a serious action thatshould only be taken under the mostextreme circumstances.

“To our knowledge, there hasnever been any suggestion over thepast 20 years that their union mem-bership imperiled national security.Even more surprising was the tim-

ing of your order. It was issued thesame day the Federal Labor Rela-tions Authority (FLRA) convened ahearing in Miami to act on a DoJemployee’s petition to allow a votefor union representation. To an out-side and objective observer, this tim-ing appears to be more thancoincidental.

“We respectfully request you re-verse this decision and would liketo know whether or not the Ad-ministration is considering broad-ening it to include other agencies.We all agree that protecting nationalsecurity is critically important. How-ever, using national security as aguise ultimately cheapens the verything we are fighting to protect.”

AFGE’s Legislative Representa-tives will continue to work with law-makers to reverse the decision andto ensure similar orders are not is-sued in other agencies. AFGE mem-bers thank Representatives StenyH. Hoyer (D-Md.), John Conyers(D-Mich.), Danny Davis (D-Ill.),Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Jim Moran (D-Va.), Con-nie Morella (R-Md.), Chris Smith(R-N.J.) and Al Wynn (D-Md.) forsupporting federal employees andtheir freedom of association andright to organize.

AFGE Wins Saturday Premium Pay in the DVA

Jump Into Grassroots Action

The Revolving Door of Enron & the Federal GovernmentThe Largest Bankruptcy in U.S. History

Vol. 18, No. 2 March/April 2002

“I don’t want to abolish government. I simply wantto reduce it to the size where I can drag it into thebathroom and drown it in the bathtub.”

— Grover Norquist, May 25, 2001Bush Administration Tax Strategist

Because too many AFGE members are working in un-

certain times, members need to be better informed onthe issues and must know how to take effective action.One of the best ways to accomplish this is throughyour Local’s Legislative Committee and Communi-cations Committee.

(see Jump Into Grassroots Action on page 11)

Enron’s fall from America’s seventh largest corpora-tion to bankruptcy provides a number of lessons forAmerica to learn. Some of them are being acted on—such as Congressional action to limit the amount ofemployees’ retirement savings that can be invested in

company stock. But others, such as the stock mar-ket bubble that produced Enron’s rise and fall, haveyet to be fully understood.

(see Enron on page 4)

AFGE ADVOCATES FORAMERICAN FREEDOMS

& RIGHTSDemocratic & Republican Lawmakers Object to

President’s Anti-Worker E.O.

Thirty-Five AFGE LocalPresidents Attend Orientation,Training in Washington, D.C.

Local Presidents meet with AFGE National Officers (see page 9).

FREE AFGE Homeland Security Poster Inside!

The Government Standard has been counting down to AFGE’s 70th anniversary on August18, 2002, with “AFGE Time Capsule,” a six-part series that began in the September/October2001 issue. This issue covers Part 4: The Griner Era (1962-1972).(see The Griner Era on page 5)

The Griner Era (1962-1972)

88575mvpR1 3/8/02 10:15 PM

The Government Standard —March/April 2002

—www.afge.org

In my 40 years as a federal employee and unionrepresentative, I have witnessed good timesand bad times for government workers. To-gether, through our collective voice, we haveworked successfully to advance the cause offederal and D.C. government employees.

But, I have never seen such attacks on unionsand AFGE as I have witnessed in the last 14months.

Last January, right after his inauguration,the President issued three anti-union Ex-ecutive Orders—one directed at AFGE.

One disallowed “union” contracts for largegovernment transportation projects.

Another mandated that a prior ExecutiveOrder—which required managers to giveemployee unions a greater role in improv-ing the federal work place—was reversed,sending a signal to managers that it is okayto engage in anti-union behavior.

The third of the President’s anti-union Ex-ecutive Orders required contractors to post

notices saying that people in the privatesector didn’t have to join unions. (This Ex-ecutive Order has since been overturnedby the courts.)

Interestingly, at the same time the Bush Ad-ministration was requiring contractors topost anti-union messages, the Administra-tion was eliminating a regulation that re-quired contractors to obey labor,environmental, and other laws or risk los-ing their eligibility for government contracts.

Health and safety have always been impor-tant union issues. Last year, the Adminis-tration canceled health and safety grants thathad already been awarded to unions and uni-versities for work on special projects designedto make work places safer.

Another big issue was the regulation thatwould have required proper ergonomics onthe job to prevent computer injuries such ascarpal tunnel syndrome. The Administra-tion canceled that safety improvement at therequest of Big Business.

Recently, the President issued an ExecutiveOrder that took away the right to collec-tive bargaining for AFGE members in theU.S. Attorney’s Office, some of whom havebeen union members for more than 20 years.It was an absolute insult for the President tosuggest that being a union member or hav-ing union rights equates to being a disloyalAmerican who can’t be trusted.

The office in the Federal Labor RelationsAuthority where unions can file actionsagainst management for labor law violationshas been vacant for over a year, giving man-agers the freedom to violate the law at will.

In a variety of agencies, managers who havebeen anti-union (but couldn’t show it before)are now engaging in anti-union behaviorby attacking union representatives, takingequipment from the union, canceling unioncontracts—all in defiance of the law.

Only last week I heard the President speakout against Senator McCain’s campaign fi-nance reform legislation which would nolonger permit the Enrons of the world to buyour government. Not only did he speak outagainst the legislation, he suggested addingan amendment that would essentially takeaway the right of AFGE or any other unionto lobby Congress for better pay or whateverthe issue, and would prevent us from com-municating with you on issues being takenup by Congress. Of all the actions so far, thisis the most anti-union of them all.

Today, the challenge we face is different thanthat of any other time. Our ability to cometogether under the laws of our democracyand to pursue our legitimate interests for faircompensation, good working conditions,and effective government (to do our jobswell) is being challenged.

These attacks are likely to only increase overtime—not decrease.

We must stand more united than ever. Theelections this fall for Congress will be criti-cal. Can we elect a Congress that will sup-port the right of Americans to belong to aunion in a free society? Or will we elect aCongress that continues to become more andmore anti-union—acting more and morelike lapdogs for Enron and others—as bigcompanies and corporate executives (whohate unions) donate large amounts of money

to elect politicians more beholden to theirinterests than to those of working families?

What can we do about it? Every AFGEmember needs to contribute to theAFGE–PAC. These are your voluntary dol-lars that can be given to candidates for Con-gress under Senator McCain’s legislation,which will give all of us a fighting chance toelect a Congress that will protect our rightsas Americans to join unions—freely andwithout intimidation—as well as requiremanagers to bargain as prescribed by law,and to protect AFGE’s right to lobby on yourbehalf and communicate with you.

The time has come for all of us as mem-bers to stand up and stand together as unionbrothers and sisters with the same agenda.We must exercise our responsibilities as cit-izens, holding our leaders accountablethrough the political process to do what’sright for working families.

We have been successful legislatively in thepast because of our skill. For AFGE to besuccessful in the future, skill alone will notwork. Success in the future will require eachemployee to step forward and do their sharerather than sit on the sidelines watching oth-ers do it for them. Everyone must call theirSenators, contribute to AFGE-PAC, andhelp out in a Congressional or Senatorialcampaign. If you think I am crying wolf, goto www.afge.org and read my column in theMay/June 2001 issue of The GovernmentStandard. This administration has provenour worst suspicions.

Union Views

A Message from President Bobby L. Harnage

Editors’ Note: The following letter was written by Local 1629member Jeff Goyner and sent to AFGE’s National Office onJan. 2, 2002. Goyner is one of thousands of Wage Gradeemployees in the federal government who AFGE believes de-serve a significant wage increase—which is what AFGE fightsfor on Capitol Hill every day. Portions of the letter werereprinted with Goyner’s permission to relay to AFGEmembers that their efforts are also needed to convince

members of Congress and the Bush Administration to makethe necessary Wage Grade increases. Goyner’s letter is an ex-ample of how Congress and the President ultimately effect ourjobs and our families—they write the bills that determine thesalaries and wages federal employees receive or don’t receive.Turn to page 11 for facts and stats on Wage Grade Pay. AFGE- Vol. 18, No. 2 March/April 2002

AFGE- (USPS 003-219, ISSN 1041-5335) is published bimonthlyand is the official membership publication of the American Federation of GovernmentEmployees, AFL-CIO, 80 F Street, NW, Washington, D.C., 20001 Phone: (202) 737-8700,www.afge.org

Bobby L. Harnage Sr., National PresidentJim Davis, National Secretary-TreasurerAndrea E. Brooks, Dir., Women’s/Fair Practices Depts.

National Vice Presidents: District 2-Derrick F. Thomas; (732)828-9449; NY, NJ, CT, MA, ME,NH, RI, VT. District 3-Jeffery R. Williams; (610)660-0316; DE, PA. District 4-Joseph Flynn; (410)480-1820; MD, NC, VA, WV. District 5-Mary Lynn Walker; (770)907-2055; AL, FL, GA, SC, TN, VirginIslands, Puerto Rico. District 6-Arnold Scott; (317)542-0428; IN, KY, OH. District 7 Jim Glover(312)421-6245; IL, MI, WI. District 8-Terrence L. Rogers; (612)854-3216; IA, MN, NE, ND, SD.District 9-Michael Kelly; (405)670-2656; AR, KS, MO, OK. District 10-Roy Flores; (210)735-8900;LA, MS, TX, NM, Panama. District 11-Gerald D. Swanke; (360)253-2616; AK, CO, ID, MT, OR,UT, WA, WY, Guam, Okinawa. District 12-Eugene Hudson; (760)597-2100; AZ, CA, HI, NV. Dis-trict 14-David J. Schlein; (202)639-6447; District of Columbia, Montgomery and Prince George’sCounties in Maryland; Arlington and Fairfax Counties and the City of Alexandria in Virginia,Europe.

Produced by the AFGE Communications Dept.: Director/Editor, Magda Lynn Seymour; AssistantDirector, Diane Witiak; Managing Editor & Communications Specialist, John Irvine; WebSite Administrator Ben Morris; Staff Assistant, Kim Kennedy. Designed & union printed byMount Vernon Printing Co., Landover, Md. Periodicals Postage Paid at Washington, D.C. Post-master: send address changes to AFGE- , AFGE Data ProcessingDept., 80 F Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20001.

Let’s Stand Up for Union Rights—Your Rights—Together

Jim Glover of Local 375 was elected as the NationalVice President (NVP) for the 7th District on Saturday,January 6, 2002. The special election was held after thedeath of Bob Nelson.

Today I received my wage grade pay schedule for2002 and I am very disgusted. I am a WG-2 Janitorand I have received a 14 cent an hour pay raise—thisis less than one percent. However, the GS peoplereceived a 4.5 percent raise. My Local is 1629 in Bat-tle Creek, Mich., and they tell me the change has tocome at the national level. Last year is the only yearin the last five I have received a respectable raise—it was 36 cents an hour. I bring home less money thanI did in 1997 because my pay has not increased enoughto cover my increase in deductions.

Glover Elected NVP

We need your help tostop this unfair

practice!

See page 11 forinstructions on what you can do to help.

88575mvpR1 3/8/02 10:15 PM Page 2


DoD Local 1296 in Miss.Doubles Membership

In October, just three months after Local 1296 elected new officers, mem-bership doubled after the new board held its first membership drive. Local1296 is headed by President Joe Gibson, 1st VP Mary Ferguson, 2ndVP Tony Lusk, Chief Steward Ricky Songer and Sec./Tres. Benjamin Nor-ris. Congratulations!

AFGE Organizing InstitutesAFGE will be holding six Organizing Institutes in Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago,Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Portland, during 2002. Each Institute fea-tures equal portions of classroom and field training and covers various organ-izing techniques during a five-day, five-night period. Because of the rigorousschedule, participants must be prepared for physically challenging, energetic,on-your-feet activities. Visit the AFGE Web site at www.afge.org or contactyour District National Vice President or the Membership & Organization De-partment [(202) 639-6410] for more information.

Organizing News

www.afge.org —

AFGE Opens ‘Union Shop’ in ArizonaLocal 1662 and All Star Services Sign Agreement

Local 1662 successfully renegotiated a collective bargaining agreement with All Star Services, a contractorat Fort Huachuca, Ariz., in December. Local President Josie Suarez, Chief Steward Mark Obergh andDist. 12 Natl. Rep. Jean Southam negotiated increases in wages, fringe benefits and a union shop. (A unionshop is an agreement that all workers must join the union, or pay a ‘service fee,’ within a specified time afterbeing hired as a condition of employment.) Employees received the new contract during a luncheon partypaid for by All Star Services and AFGE. The new contract increased Local 1662 by 80 members.

AFGE Is GrowingBoston, Lincoln and Topeka DVA Workers Choose AFGE

Some 500 Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA)employees working for the Boston Healthcare Sys-tems chose AFGE as their exclusive bargaining agentin an election held Jan. 16. The new unit includespsychologists, social workers, physical and recre-ational therapists, pharmacists and other non-nurseprofessional employees at the Jamica Plains, Brock-ton, and West Roxbury Medical Centers, as well asa number of clinics in the greater-Boston area. AFGELocal 221, which represents some 100 registerednurses at Jamica Plains, will represent the new em-ployees.

In Lincoln, Neb., DVA professionals voted forAFGE representation in Jan. The employees willbe represented by Local 2219. Barbara Jordan isthe Local President. In Topeka, Kan., a bargainingunit of 270 professionals (doctors included) votedfor AFGE in December. AFGE represents some135,000 DVA employees nationwide.

AFGE Wins Vote atThree Michigan SSA

OfficesWorkers in the Social Security Administration (SSA)field offices in Bay City, West Branch and Alpena,Mich., now have AFGE representation and the pro-tection of AFGE’s Master Labor Agreement withSSA. The employees voted in on-site elections onFeb. 6 and 7.

Stewards and rank-and-file members of Local3272 from the nearby Saginaw field office did mostof the organizing work, making visits to each officein the weeks prior to the vote. Assisted by DeborahFredericksen who was representing Council 220—the AFGE SSA Field Office Council—Local 3272members were able to meet face-to-face with almostevery employee.

Ken Keillor, President of Local 3272, said thata number of employees had been AFGE membersat other SSA sites and wanted to bring AFGE intotheir new offices. Several have already joined orvolunteered to be stewards. “With this victory, everySSA field office in AFGE’s 7th District is now rep-resented by AFGE,” added Keillor.

DCAA Flocks to AFGEThe 600-plus employees of the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA)Western Region voted for AFGE representation at the end of 2001. TheWestern Region is headquartered in Los Angeles but employees are stationedin approximately 20 field and smaller offices across the west.

The DCAA Mid-Atlantic Region, with headquarters in Philadelphia, isgoing for AFGE representation as well. A mail ballot went out to 690 em-ployees and will be counted in March. AFGE Local 3529 is behind all theactivity, sending out mailings to draw interest, filing representation peti-tions with the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA), and helping thenew groups get started as independent Locals.

Next is the Eastern Region, with headquarters in Atlanta. Since AFGELocal 3883 already represents DCAA in the Northeast, DCAA employ-ees will have wall-to-wall representation, opening the door to bargainingon issues which the agency has been claiming are “national” rather than “re-gional.” Local 3529 President Ray Downey says his members want himto devote some of the Local’s funds to organizing new units “because DoDworkers need union protection across the board.”

With Union Plus Health Savings

Spend Less on Prescriptions, Dental Care and more

AFGE’s Union Plus®

Health Savings Program

www.afge.org

To start saving today, call:

1-888-844-AFGE

88575mvpR1 3/8/02 10:15 PM Page 3


—www.afge.org

COMMON SENSE ECONOMICS

Editors’ Note: The author of the fol-lowing article, Mark Wesibert, isco-director of the Center for Eco-nomic and Policy Research, in Wash-ington, D.C., www.cepr.net.

The demise of Enron leaves uswith another huge, ostentatioussymbol of the once vaunted “NewEconomy” going belly up, and theinevitable question: what lessonswill be learned? This monstertrader of everything from energyfutures to advertising space, andproducers of very little, went fromnumber seven on the Fortune 500list of America’s largest corpora-tions to a bankrupt failure in amatter of months.

A fall from grace of this magni-tude and speed inevitably causes re-thinking, with teary-eyed employeeswho lost their savings testifying atCongressional hearings, and share-holders’ lawsuits piling up. Thereare a number of easy lessons thatare likely to result in legal reforms.First, some limits on how muchof employees’ pension funds can beput in company stock. It was anugly spectacle: Enron’s top execu-tives, some undoubtedly knowingwhat the company concealed frominvestors, selling hundreds of mil-lions of dollars worth of companystock while employees lost $1.2 bil-

lion, more than half of their retire-ment savings. This is more thaneven our normally corporate-com-pliant Congress can ignore.

Some reforms on financial dis-closure, whether they take the formof legal changes at the Securitiesand Exchange Commission, au-diting rules, or enforcement, arealso likely. Enron had 3,500 affil-iates and partners throughout theworld, and used at least some ofthese to hide massive amounts ofdebt and to inflate its profits. Therewere conflicts of interest all overthe place, including those finessedby the accounting giant Arthur An-derson, which performed both in-ternal and outside audits for Enron.But regardless of who ends up withmost of the blame, it shouldn’t havebeen so easy to get away with mis-stating the company’s earnings andhiding so much vital informationfrom investors. Something is likelyto be done to make at least someof these deceptions more difficultin the future.

Larger lessons seem more dis-tant, or barely recognized. Enron’sco-conspirators grew rich bycreating markets where they werenot needed, and through dereg-ulation of public utility systemsthat didn’t need to be deregulated.

California’s energy crisis shouldhave made it clear to anyone whowasn’t directly profiting from thechaos (as Enron did) that the oldsystem worked a lot better. Forelectricity at least, a regulated mo-nopoly is far superior to a “com-petitive” system in which suppliersare able to gouge consumers andthe market doesn’t even ensurethat there will be adequate capac-ity to keep the lights on at night.

There are a number of clear eco-nomic and technological reasonsfor that result. But the combina-tion of ideological and pecuniaryinterests in deregulation was sopowerful that the whole debate wasbadly distorted. Even at the peakof California’s troubles, much ofthe press continued to blame “par-tial deregulation” for the disaster—as if allowing consumer paymentsfor electricity to rise without thelimit would have solved the prob-lem created by deregulation.

That brings us to another prob-lem that Enron exemplified: theselling of our government to thehighest bidders. Enron was asmuch a part of the Bush Admin-istration as it is possible for a cor-poration to be—CEO KennethLay is a longtime friend of theBush family (raising funds for both

father and sons) and Enron em-ployees contributed $1.3 millionto George W. Bush’s presidentialcampaign.

Enron’s investment in govern-ment was a profitable one, buyingcrucial support for its deregulatoryagenda across the country. Its po-litical influence was also instru-mental in choosing members of theFederal Energy Regulatory Com-mission, which oversees Enron’sbusiness, and making Enron a co-author of the Bush Administration’senergy plan. It remains to be seenwhether this clout will rescueEnron’s officers from any federal in-vestigations and prosecution.

Perhaps the most immediate les-son that has yet to be gleaned from

the largest bankruptcy in historyconcerns the stock bubble thatdrove the 1990’s expansion. Stockprices that are out of line with anyplausible story about future profitgrowth cannot hold. This is stilltrue for the stock market taken asa whole, where the average price iscurrently 25 times the level of evenpre-recession earnings. Comparethis to the market’s historic aver-age of about 14 to 1, and it is clearthat current stock prices cannot besustained, no matter how fast andfuriously our economy recovers.

The reality has yet to sink in. Abig bubble named Enron has burst,but much of the “bubble mental-ity” that drove investors into itsfold still remains.

The Revolving Door of Enron & the Federal Government

Fuzzy Math Used in Budget ProjectionsThe White House appears tohave discovered a way to elimi-nate the deficit in its upcomingbudget: get rid of the minussigns, reported The WashingtonPost. One day before the WhiteHouse was to release its budget,it was discovered that a num-ber of the tables failed to includeminus signs to indicate thebudget deficits.

In other words, the projected$106 billion deficit in 2002 isreflected in the budget as a sur-plus, as are the deficits projectedfor 2003 and 2004. The Officeof Management and Budget con-firmed the problem and said thetables were fine when they wentto the printer but somehow theminus signs disappeared becauseof a software conversion glitch.

LobbyistsEnron has spent more than $7 millionsince 1996 to run a Washington lobbyingoffice and to hire dozens of well-connected insiders. Among thoseretained:Ed Buckham, former aid to HouseMajority Whip Tom DeLay, R-TexasEd Gillespie, former aide to HouseMajority Leader Dick Armey, R-TexasJ. Bennett Johnston, former senator,D-La.Michael Lewan, former chief of staff toSen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn.Marc Racicot, former Montanagovernor and now chairman ofRepublican National CommitteeJohn Schmitz, deputy White Housecounsel for former president George BushAdam Wenner, Steve Stojc and DanWatkiss, former staffers at the FederalEnergy Regulatory Commission

LegislatorsSince 1989, Enron has contributed $1.1million to 71 current members of theSenate and 187 members of the House.The company also contributed to a groupfounded by Sen. Lieberman.Among the top recipients:Sen. Kay Bailey HutchinsonR-Texas $99,500Sen. Phil GrammR-Texas $97,350Rep. Ken BentsenD-Texas $42,750New Democrat Network

$25,000

RegulatorsEnron’s influence also encompassesregulatory agencies with control over itsbusiness.Wendy Gramm, wife of Texas Sen. PhilGramm, helped approve regulationsfavorable to Enron while she waschairwoman of the Commodity FuturesTrading Commission. She later became amember of Enron’s board of directors.Pat Wood, the personal choice of EnronCEO Kenneth Lay, was appointed byPresident Bush to chair the FederalEnergy Regulatory Commission.Harvey Pitt, Securities and ExchangeCommission chairman, was a lawyer forEnron’s former audit firm, ArthurAndersen, before going to the SEC.

The White HouseEnron and its executives have beenPresident Bush’s top career politicalpatrons, giving more than $1 million tosupport his campaigns and inauguralcelebrations.Lawrence Lindsey, Bush’s economicpolicy adviser, got $100,000 inconsulting fees from Enron.Karl Rove, Bush’s political adviser,owned more than $100,000 in Enronstock before being forced to sell it lastyear under ethics rules.Thomas White, Bush’s secretary of theArmy, is a former Enron executive. Heheld $25 million to $50 million incompany stock before going to thePentagon.

InvestigatorsProsecutors and judges have had torecuse themselves from the Enron casebecause of personal connections.Attorney General John Ashcroft recusedhimself from the Justice Department’sEnron criminal investigation because hehad received $57,499 in contributions forhis unsuccessful 2000 Senate re-electionrace.The Houston office of the JusticeDepartment recused itself because ofpervasive family ties and friendships withEnron employees.John Cornyn, Texas attorney general,recused himself because of $193,000 inEnron contributions throughout hispolitical career.Three federal judges recusedthemselves from cases involving Enron,without giving a reason. In addition,Enron has given $134,058 since 1993 tomembers of the Texas Supreme Court.

How Enron got its way in Washington.

For the last ten years, Enron’s influence in Washington has been pervasive. The company succeeded in escaping government regulationand forced local utilities to open their lines to power shipped from other states. Here’s how:

ENRON

Source: USA Today Jan. 24, 2002

88575mvpR1 3/8/02 10:15 PM Page 4


The following article was written by NationalPresident Clyde M. Webber, John F.Griner’s successor, as it appeared in the De-cember 1972 issue of The GovernmentStandard. Here are excerpts from Webber’sinaugural column as National President.

“You should all, by now, know how muchhigher salaries and wages are for both GS andWage Grade employees than they were whenJohn F. Griner took our Union’s affairs inhand. You should be equally aware of ourmuch stronger influence on Capitol Hillwhen we must state the case to Congressfor justifiable legislation. Can we not useeffectively this tool John F. Griner welded to-gether and left for us?

“I remember, if no one else does, that inthat hectic, exciting time when we were or-ganizing, organizing, organizing, day-by-dayand week-by-week wherever Federal em-ployees could be found, we in AFGE became

known throughout organized labor as “TheFastest Growing Union” and as “The Unionon the Move.” Have we slouched back onour couches? Are we less willing to roll upour sleeves? I think not.

“We have lost an able leader to a seriousillness, but we have not lost the inspirationwe can derive from the bold example he setfor us. He may not be with us in person eachand every day, but the remembrance of thisman should sustain us for some time to come.I know it braces me, and I am sure that thereare countless others in our ranks who are justas eager to carry on the fight that John F.Griner began.”

Be sure to look for Part 5: 1972-1982 of“AFGE Time Capsule” in the May/June2002 issue of The Government Standard. Thissix-part series covering AFGE’s colorful his-tory, “AFGE Time Capsule,” is countingdown to AFGE’s 70thanniversary on August18, 2002.

www.afge.org —

The Griner Era (continued from page 1)

AFGE Between 1962 & 1972AFGE began to grow significantlyin 1962 after President John F.Kennedy issued Executive Order10988, allowing Exclusive Recog-nition and the right to bargain. Itwas also in 1962 when AFGE Na-tional President James A. Camp-bell was succeeded by John F.Griner (1907-1974), who wouldbecome the first AFGE leader tosit on the Executive Council of theAFL-CIO. As reported in the De-cember 1972 issue of The Gov-ernment Standard, “one of Griner’sfirst commands to AFGE’s electedofficers and staff was terse buttough—get out and organize.”

And, organize they did. AFGEgrew from 108,000 in 1962 to280,000 in 1972. A full-time or-ganizing team—augmented by stafffrom the AFL-CIO’s IndustrialUnion Department—was createdand each year brought enormousmembership gains, as much as30,000 members in one year. AsAFGE grew in numbers, so did itslobbying clout. Aided by the for-mation of the Government Em-ployees Council, a coalition ofAFL-CIO affiliated unions with

members in the federal work force,the Federal Pay Comparability Actwas enacted.

Under Griner, AFGE also ac-complished Congressional enact-ment and Presidential signing ofWage Grade legislation, whichended an eight year struggle toaward some 700,000 Wage Gradeworkers literally millions of dol-lars in denied pay, equity and jus-tice. Also under Griner’sleadership, AFGE establishedownership of a National Officebuilding in Washington, D.C.,culminating a long-cherisheddream dating back to the firstAFGE leaders in 1932.

“When he [Griner] took officein 1962, AFGE was little morethan a fraternal association be-seeching a powerful and arrogantemployer for crumbs of justice andequity,” reported The GovernmentStandard in December of 1972.“When he stepped aside, it was apower to be reckoned with at theWhite House, on Capitol Hill andin the offices of agency top-levelmanagement. He had transformedcompletely the image of AFGE

and given added stature to the title‘Civil Servant’.”

A priceless message. Thanks to Lynn Edwards in AFGE’s National Officefor sharing this photo of her great-grandmother at what is thought to beEastern Market in Washington, D.C. The photo was taken sometime be-tween 1910 and 1915 by her great-grandfather, who was employed by theUnited States Department of Agriculture.

AFGETIME CAPSULE

Do you have any AFGE historyyou would like to add? Send theinformation or photo to: TheGovernment Standard, ATTN:“AFGE Time Capsule,” 80 F St.,NW, Washington, D.C. 20001.All photos and stories becomeproperty of the AFGE Commu-nications Dept.

The

Gov

ernm

ent S

tand

ard,

Aug

ust 2

1,19

64

88575mvpR1 3/8/02 10:15 PM Page 5

88575mvpR1 3/8/02 10:15 PM


—www.afge.org

Cramming for the Midterm‘Midterm’ is a phrase that takes usall the way back to our school days.Teachers told us the tests wereworthwhile because they gaugedhow we were doing and what stillneeded to be done. The same holdstrue in politics. November’s mid-term elections are a test of AFGE’spolitical abilities and a chance tograde elected officials, as well as theBush Administration.

Of course, what makes thismidterm different than recent yearsis the war on terrorism. AFGEmembers are first and foremostloyal Americans dedicated to theircountry and its leaders. While thisis a time for all of us to pull to-gether, elections by their very na-ture compel us to make choices.Obviously, it is important to showa unified front to the world, butin this, the greatest democracy, it

is also imperative that we freelyand openly conduct elections.

This year it’s a more delicatebalancing act than ever before.How do we act in the best inter-ests of the country and not just inthe interest of AFGE? How do wepush for non-partisan outcomesin Congress but engage in an elec-tion process that, by design, isbased on partisan debate? It is atestimony to our nation’s purposethat we have managed to holddemocratic elections in the midstof national crisis. Americans wentto the polls during throughout theGreat Depression, over the courseof two World Wars, the KoreanWar, Vietnam, and countless othertimes of national hardships. Elec-tions are not about party poli-tics—they’re about the Americanway of life. They are what distin-

guish us from our enemies. InAmerica, we settle our differenceswith ballots, not bullets.

At this moment, we face a di-vided government; a President rid-ing high in the polls despite theclosest electoral victory ever; a Sen-ate under Democratic control be-cause one Republican switched hisaffiliation to Independent; and aRepublican House ruled by ahandful of votes, with two or threemembers regularly deciding com-mittee and floor votes.

In this closely divided environ-ment, many of our members andthe work they do are under attack.The Administration has an-nounced a plan to privatize one-third of our jobs over the courseof the next four years. Some of ourJustice Department Locals havelost their bargaining rights. Over

half of AFGE corrections officershave their jobs on the FAIR Actlist for the first time, which meansthe critical security we need tomaintain convicted felons and ter-rorists could be contracted out.Management at the agency thatoperates Medicare is carrying outa concerted attack on the employeeunion, including removing equip-ment from their offices. The largestnew group of new civilian gov-ernment employees in years—theairport security employees—wereestablished without Title V rightsto representation. These are justsome of the most blatant exam-ples, on top of every agency facingprivatization and contracting outon a daily basis. Under such at-tacks, we must be prepared to getinvolved in this year’s election.These midterms are a test for the

very survival of this union and fed-eral employment as we know it.

So what can you do? First, youcan get registered and make sureyour Local has your correct votingaddress so we can keep you in-formed on issues and candidates.You can get involved in grassrootslobbying and Labor 2002 activi-ties through AFGE and your localAFL-CIO Labor Council. You canget educated on the candidates’records and then get yourself tothe polls on Election Day.

Vote for the candidate who willsafeguard your rights to a securejob with fair wages, benefits andpension—regardless of party affil-iation. If you do that on Tuesday,November 5, 2002, we shouldhave every confidence that ourunion will pass this midterm test.

Congress sets the laws governing wages, benefits andcontracting out. Congress approves the budgets for fed-eral agencies. Congress oversees and can act on uni-lateral actions by agency directors and even the President.

AFGE must have Congressional Representativesand Senators who value the work that AFGE mem-bers do for America. It will continue to be nearlyimpossible to pass legislation that addresses our con-cerns—or defeat legislation that doesn’t—until AFGEgets more members of Congress to speak on our be-

half. AFGE needs more Senators and Representativeswho are pro-federal employee and not anti-worker.AFGE needs more Representatives and Senators whocare about the needs of our families instead of bigprofits for unaccountable corporations.

Federal employees are America’s best homelandsecurity and it’s high time Congress recognizes that.Be a part of the AFGE-PAC Blitz between March18-31. Call your District or Local Office for moreinformation.

DoD Local 2096 Wins A-76 in Virginia

Editors’ Note: The following article was written and sub-mitted by Dwight Brinson of AFGE Local 2096.

Local 2096 at the Naval Surface Weapons Centerin Dahlgren, Va., is satisfied with the outcome ofthe recent Public Works A-76 that lasted almost threeyears. We feel that we learned a lot about the study,management and ourselves. It was a long and hardbattle from day one and it did not end until the con-tracting officer made the announcement. The finalday for appeals was September 11, 2001.

We found that it is possible to win a study but it takesa lot of dedication by the Local and some help frommanagement. There will be a lot of long days and nightsand tons of paperwork that never seem to get finished.

I would suggest that the first thing that everyonedoes is to get educated. The first thing that you needto read is the A-76 supplement published by the Of-fice of Management and Budget. You also need to getcopies of Wiley Pearson’s (AFGE’s Defense PolicyAnalyst in the National Office) activist handbookto go along with the A-76 manual. The handbookis great reading and the best place to start to gainknowledge as to how the A-76 process works. Makesure that everyone involved in the study gets theknowledge that they will need to see them throughto the end of the study. This is a long, hard process

and is not meant for the weak at heart. The peoplethat you choose in the beginning might not be aroundfor the end of the study and that is the reason thateveryone should have equal knowledge of the process.

After you have memorized these two documents,you are ready to get down to work and start makingappeals to management to stop the study. This willnot happen, but every time you meet with manage-ment you can always ask.

The United States Code is another source of read-ing information that you need to become acquaintedwith. There are laws that govern the A-76 process thatmanagement seems to have problems following. Yourjob is to see that they stay on the right road and thatthey don’t go off it. If you get really acquainted with theA-76 process, you will find that there are very few peo-ple that really know the rules, let alone follow them. Iam not saying this to be funny because this is notfunny—especially when it is your job on the line.

To put all the things down that you need to doto win a study would take all of The Government Stan-dard’s pages. We just wanted to say that there is hopeas long as you are willing to put in the work. If any-one would like information or help with what theythink is the correct way to win a study, we would beglad to help. Contact us by calling the Local at (540)653-4011 or by e-mailing afge2096@nswc. navy.mil.

“I would suggest that the first thing that everyone does is to get educated.”– Dwight Brinson, AFGE Local 2096

Vintage AFGE Call to Action poster, circa 1975.

Be a Part of AFGE’s March BlitzCall your AFGE District or Local for Details

88575mvpR1 3/8/02 10:15 PM Page 8


www.afge.org —

AFGE Education Council 252 NewsCouncil 252’s President BenMiller announced in Decemberthat the Federal Service ImpassesPanel (FSIP) issued its binding de-cision for the Department of Edu-cation, Office for Civil Rights(OCR) and for AFGE Kansas City,Mo.

The issue at impasse was the par-ties’ disagreement over the priori-ties to apply in selecting privateoffices and cubicles in the OCRKansas City Regional Office. TheFSIP sustained, with minor mod-ifications, AFGE’s position that pri-vate offices and cubicles in theOCR Kansas City Regional

Office should be based on sen-iority, regardless of whether the em-ployees occupy an Attorney or anEqual Opportunity Specialist(EOS) position. The FSIP in its rul-ing stated that the employer (OCR)

provided no evidence establishingits position that assigning offices toboth EOSs and attorneys will affectattorney recruitment and retention.

“Having carefully considered theevidence and arguments presentedby the parties, we (FSIP) are per-suaded that they should adopt amodified version of the Union’s pro-posal to resolve their dispute overthe priorities for selecting privateoffices and cubicles.” The FSIP wenton to say that, “... Regardless ofwhether employees occupy an at-torney or an EOS position, theyshould compete for vacant officesand cubicles based on senioritywithin their particular grades.”

Council 252 National ChiefSteward Jerry Fryer—who organ-ized AFGE’s defense—said that theselection procedures AFGE pro-posed will remedy past procedures

that made it difficult, if not im-possible, for EOSs to receive of-fices, although their need for themwas similar to that of attorneys, es-pecially in the team environment.Council 252 National ExecutiveVP Jerry Doyle stated that theFSIP’s ruling leaves no room forambiguity and presents a positivedecision of clarity that is fair, eq-uitable and will have a beneficialeffect on employee morale.

Miller says that now we mustshift our focus to working withKansas City Regional OCR man-agement so that they understandthe benefits of this ruling and, sec-ond, to continue running an effi-cient operation reflective of thehigh performance organization thatwe have with the caliber of per-sonnel in the Kansas City OCRRegional Office.

AFGE Local Presidents Attend Orientation, Training

Local Presidents meet with AFGE National Officers.

For six days in December, over 35AFGE Local Presidents came to theGeorge Meany Center for LaborStudies in Silver Spring, Md., andthe AFGE National Office in Wash-ington, D.C., for orientation andtraining to better understand AFGEand to better serve their members.Attendees included:

Ralph Anderson (DVA Local 1384,Ind.), Darrell W. Banks (Air Force

Local 1867, Colo.), Barbara Brandt(DoL Local 2391, Calif.), LorraineChrastil (DVA Local 2200, Neb.),Michael E. Clarke (DoD Local1502, Wis.), Ronald Coe (DoDLocal 1411, Ind.), Mark Dickinson(DoD Local 916, Okla.), Larry W.Dowdy (Marine Corps Local 2317,Ga.), Eddie Eitches (HUD Local476, Va.), Mollie Goodin (SSALocal 4056, Fla.), Donald Hale

(Army Local 2367, N.Y.), BrockHenderson (Air Force Local 1547,Ariz.), Jimmie B. Ledford (DoDLocal 2609, Mont.), Aaron M. Lee(USDA Local 2325, S.C.), PhyllisLipkinssilar (DoL Local 914, Ohio),William Logue (DoD Local 908,Mo.), Bill Luttrell (DVA Local 2110,Calif.), Betty L. Meness (Navy Local2326, Ill.), Jeff Moulton (USDALocal 1106, Calif.), Thomas O.

Murphy (Commerce Local 3810,D.C.), Thomas Neal (DVA Local1228, Iowa), Donna Nicholson(Census Local 1438, Ind.), RitaNordhoff (SSA Local 3610, W.V.),Andrea Owens (DoD Local 4055,D.C.), George Parks (DoD Local1148, Ohio), Trudy Pendergast (AirForce Local 1869, S.C.), DonaldRoberts (DoD Local 2134, Ill.),

Tammy Romero (DoD Local 2586,Okla.), Gary Steele (Air Force Local2316, Pa.), Lorraine Tuliano (NavyLocal 2113, Fla.), Marty Vishinsky(DVA Local 1745, Texas), ThomasWebb (SSA Local 3615, Va.),Dempster Wheeler (DoL Local2519, Fla.), and Joyce Woods (INSLocal 2718, Ill.).

AFGE Adds Several ThousandMore Claimants to INS-FLSA CaseAFGE, which represents some24,000 Immigration and Natu-ralization Service (INS) em-ployees nationwide, has identifiedover 3,500 INS employees as po-tential claimants due overtimeback pay in a Fair Labor Stan-dards Act (FLSA) case being pur-sued by the union.

In an effort to ensure that allpossible claimants are identified,AFGE utilized its Web site—www.afge.org—and solicited thenames of current and former INSemployees who were denied over-time during the period of June2, 1991 through May 1, 1998.The employees were denied over-time as a result of the agency’smisapplication of the FLSA.Some 3,573 visitors to AFGE’sWeb site filled out forms online,indicating their name was not in-cluded in the agency’s database

of 8,674 names identified as pos-sible claimants.

AFGE’s grievance resulted inthe agency changing its FLSA ex-empt status for thousands of INSemployees, thus entitling the em-ployees to FLSA overtime for thefirst time in INS history. NowAFGE is working to determinehow much back pay each effectedemployee will receive

AFGE also provided forms onits Web site for claimants to use inreporting uncompensated over-time worked during the 1991through 1998 period. The ‘suf-fer or permit’ automated claimsforms and instructions were avail-able on AFGE’s Web site throughFeb. 4. The agency waived the re-quirement that ‘suffer or permit’forms be signed by the claimants,allowing AFGE to collect digi-talized data to expedite the process.

88575mvpR1 3/8/02 10:15 PM Page 9


—www.afge.org

PaycheckProtection WouldSilence AFGE On

the HillFederal employees who join AFGE govern themselves asa democracy. During conventions AFGE members voteon their dues, elect leaders and vote on how best to spendAFGE’s money. AFGE contends that paycheck protectionlegislation, a.k.a. paycheck deception, is wasteful and bur-densome to AFGE members and would not allow theunion to function as a democracy. Most importantly—and this is the real intention of the legislation—it wouldalso cease AFGE’s ability to lobby and fight for workerfreedoms and rights on Capitol Hill.

There are bills in statehouses across the country thatwould require written approval from every single mem-ber of a union before spending dues. Maintaining theserecords would apply ONLY TO UNIONS and not toother political associations or corporations. Paycheck pro-tection is intended to hurt unions—it’s that simple.

Budget BenefitsContractors

IT Part of New Bush StrategyPresident Bush’s budget proposal would more than dou-ble the growth of federal information technology (IT)spending, reported The Washington Post. GovernmentIT spending is slated to reach $52 billion in fiscal 2003under the budget, up from $48 billion this year. Accord-ing to the Office of Management and Budget, the tech-nology spending proposals also signify a new strategy bythe Bush Administration. The Information TechnologyAssociation of America praises the increase while AFGEdoes not. Such increases add more contractors to thefederal work force and displace more highly trained andexperienced federal workers.

Federal FirefighterSeminar Held

Over 100 fire and emergency services personnel, humanrelations officers, labor-relation specialists, attorneys andothers with a vital interest in the employment aspects ofthe federal fire service, attended the 2002 Federal Fire-fighters Seminar at the Maritime Institute in Baltimorefrom Feb. 11-14. Sponsored by AFGE and the Interna-tional Association of Fire Chiefs, attendees talked abouta variety of issues and challenges facing the just under10,000 civilian employees in the federal fire service.

The comprehensive four-day conference covered: fire-fighter compensation; qualifications for employment; phys-ical fitness programs; workers’ compensation andretirement; conditions of employment (labor-manage-ment relations); staffing, inspections, risk assessments,waivers and liability; privatization, most efficient organ-izations and developing in-house costs; and litigation andlegislative issues. For more information on the conferenceand about AFGE’s firefighters, log onto www.afgefire-fighters.org.

AFGE’s 2002 IssuePapers Are Online

Get the official 2002 AFGE Position Papers bylogging onto to www.afge.org. Use the positionpapers as information at Local meetings and whentalking with members of Congress. The follow-ing papers are available: • General Schedule Pay

• Wage-Grade Pay

• Federal Employees Health Benefits Program

• Service Contracting

• Civil Service Reform & “Freedom toManage”

• Social Security

• The Budget, the Tax Cuts, and theEconomic Stimulus Package

• Government Pension Offset & WindfallElimination Provision

• Minimum Wage and Low-Wage Workers

• Department of Defense

• Department of Veterans Affairs

• Employment Non-Discrimination Act

• District of Columbia

• Prison Privatization

• Workers Compensation/Ergonomics

• Law Enforcement Officer Pay

• Whistleblowers Protection

• Food Safety

AFGE Secures SaturdayPremium Pay

(continued from page 1)

The new law requires the DVA to establish nationwide safestaffing levels. It also requires the DVA to report to Con-gress on the use of mandatory overtime and to look at howmandatory overtime is affecting medical errors. Further,the law requires the DVA to report on the use of educa-tion waivers under the Nurse Qualification Standards.

The law improves the retirement for registered nurses(RN’s) and corrects an anomaly in the retirement of part-time RN’s. The provision dealing with RN retirement andunused sick leave will take effect 60 days after January23 and will apply to individuals who separate from serv-ice on or after that effective date. The law also estab-lishes a National DVA Nursing Commission and containsprovisions to enhance the employee incentive programand education debt program.

Did You Know?

2002 Legislative &Grassroots Mobilization

ConferenceLook for complete coverage, including

photographs, of AFGE’s 2002 Legislative &Grassroots Mobilization Conference in the

May/June issue of The Government Standard.

Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP)

Introduction

The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), which currently

covers nine million active and retired federal employees and their dependents, is

the nation’s largest employer-sponsored health insurance plan. Although

politicians in recent years have touted FEHBP as a model health insurance

program, its participants consider it anything but a model. In the last four years,

premiums have risen by an average of 49 percent, far faster than the average

growth of health care costs generally during the same period. In addition to out-

of-control premium increases, FEHBP participants have suffered unpredictable

shifts in covered benefits from year to year, and the sudden disappearance of

popular plans. Finally, in spite of being forced to pay anywhere from 28% to 30%

of premiums, federal employees have no meaningful voice in the program on

issues such as coverage, quality standards, or the mix of benefits and costs.

FEHBP has both structural and political flaws. Each makes the program more

expensive than it should be for both the government, and federal employees.

The changes in FEHBP sought by AFGE are aimed at lowering costs without

reducing benefits, improving the accountability of both the plans and the Office of

Personnel Management (OPM), and achieving parity with the benefits provided

by large private and public sector employers.

The Cost of Coverage : FEHBP’s Most Serious Flaw

This year’s average premium increases of 13.3% follow the pattern of 1998,

1999, 2000, and 2001 when the Office of Personnel Management approved

average hikes of 7.2%, 9.5%, and 9.3%, 10.5% respectively. These increases

occurred at the same time that the general rate of inflation hovered between 2

and 3 percent, and health care costs generally rose by 6% to 7% per year. While

average premiums in FEHBP increased by 50% over the past five years,

premiums in Blue Cross/Blue Shield’s Standard Option, the most popular plan in

the program, rose by 60% for families and 63% for individuals.

FEHBP does not succeed in the most basic test of a health insurance program:

It does not produce universal coverage for its target population—federal

employees, retirees, and their families. Because OPM is loath to draw attention

to the system’s flaws, it collects little data on those who do not participate in

FEHBP but are otherwise eligible to do so. The most recent attempt to measure

the size of this group, as well as its reasons for declining to participate in FEHBP,

was 1992, when OPM contracted with Gallup to survey a small sample of

nonparticipants. From that sample, it is estimated that approximately 250,000

federal employees who are eligible for the full employer subsidy under FEHBP

not only do not use FEHBP, but they are entirely uninsured. The remainder of

non-participants have health coverage from another source, predominantly from

Food SafetyIntroduction

AFGE won a great victory for its food inspectors in a June 30, 2000 decision by

the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. This federal appeals court ruled in

American Federation of Government Employees, et al, versus the U.S.

Department of Agriculture, et al, No. 99-5320, that it is the duty of federal

employees to make the critical determination whether a product is adulterated or

unadulterated, a duty which cannot be delegated to private industry employees.

This case was filed in response to a USDA initiative to shift the inspection of our

nation’s meat and poultry products from the federal government to the meat and

poultry industry. The unanimous panel of the Court of Appeals emphatically ruled

that the federal inspectors have a statutory duty to examine meat and poultry

carcass – by – carcass that must be maintained.Background

The Federal Meat Inspection Act (“FMIA”), 21 U.S.C. Sec. 604 and the Poultry

Products Inspection Act (“PPIA”), 21 U.S.C. Sec. 455 require USDA inspectors to

perform a “post-mortem inspection” of the carcasses and parts of all livestock

and birds processed for human consumption. As the Court of Appeals noted,

these laws have been in place for over ninety years, and the meaning of

‘inspection’ has been clear. Further, 21 U.S.C. Sec. 453 (k) defines the term

inspector as (1) an employee or official of the United States Government …,or (2)

any employee or official of the government of any State. Nothing in these

statutory mandates or in the court’s decision precludes the USDA from arming

federal inspectors with the means to detect dangerous pathogenic organisms in

meat and poultry or from requiring the industry to adopt a more responsible and

systematic approach to preventing food safety risks from occurring.USDA believes that the meat producing industry should be primarily responsible

for identifying where food safety hazards are most likely to occur and for

establishing controls that prevent or reduce it. AFGE believes that this approach

is like requiring the fox to guard the chicken coop. USDA will likely seek to modify

the FMIA and PPIA laws to provide it with the flexibility to drastically reduce the

role of federal inspectors in the inspection process. AFGE will continue to oppose

these efforts and protect the jobs of our federal inspectors, but most important, to

protect the public from unsafe food. AFGE does not oppose scientific advances

in food safety; AFGE welcomes these advances. AFGE believes that these

advances must be implemented in conjunction with the tried and true methods of

federal inspection by federal inspectors that have made our system the safest in

the world for ninety years.

88575mvpR1 3/8/02 10:15 PM Page 10


www.afge.org —

The Government Standard’s “On The Hill” section pro-vides members with critical information on legislative issueseffecting federal employees. Additionally, the AFGE Website (www.afge.org) provides more information on all leg-islation. On legislative matters of special interest, the Na-tional Office often sends out an AFGE Action News e-mailalert right to your computer screen. To sign up for the AFGEAction News, log onto AFGE’s Web site and click on theAction News icon. It’s easy to do and it keeps you informed.

Locals can also subscribe to the Congressional Recordor may be able to obtain it through their member of Con-gress or by logging onto http://thomas.loc.gov/. Informa-tion on specific bills may also be obtained from yourRepresentative or Senator’s local office, from the legislatorwho introduced the bill, or from the congressional com-mittee which is handling the bill.

Below are some suggestions on how your Local’s Leg-islative and Communications Committees can educate moremembers on the issues and take action.

Education• Make Reports: At every membership meeting, have one

person from the Legislative Committee give a short re-port on the progress of the legislation that the Local andAFGE are interested in.

• Use a Panel: A discussion panel can be more interestingthan a report. For example, when FEHBP is receiving alot of notice, get two or three members of the committeeto discuss what changes AFGE is seeking and what effectthis will have on federal employees and their families.

• Invite Speakers: For some pieces of legislation, an informedspeaker—including your Representative or Senators—canhelp get the issue across. Are bills calling for changes inwages and benefits or more contracting out? It is impor-tant to discuss how these bills would effect your unit/Local.Also think about inviting a personnel officer to discussthe bill and the proposed changes. Working with the Local’sCommunications Committee, schedule your speakerswhen the media are covering a bill or issue.

• Write Special Notices: If, for example, an important meas-ure such as federal recognition of employee unions is underattack, the Communications Committee should explainthe issue clearly in the AFGE Local newspaper or Website. If you don’t have a regular newspaper or Web sitefor your Local, issuing a special flyer or leaflet would drumup the support and action you seek. Be sure to dispersethe leaflets in the work place, post on the bulletin board,send notices to home e-mail addresses, etc.

Action• Visit Your Members of Congress: Get a small delegation

to visit your Representative and Senators to express yourviews. They are usually home during Easter, summer andChristmas recesses and on some weekends. Be preparedand well informed on what you will be discussing. Stud-ies conclude that this is the most effective way to com-municate with members of Congress.

• Call Your Members of Congress: Encourage every mem-ber to go to AFGE’s Web site, www.afge.org, and print out30-second phone scripts on specific bills. Then, call yourRepresentative and Senators to express your views. Be pre-pared and well informed on what you will be discussing.

• Write Letters: Right after a good program or report on aparticular bill, AFGE members are more prepared to dosomething. The Communications Committee shouldbe ready to pass out pens, letters and/or stationery andask AFGE members to write their Representatives andSenators expressing their views. Also, provide AFGE mem-bers with pre-written letters to be signed and sent to theeditorial pages of your town, state or regional newspaper(dailies and weeklies). At the next meeting, have the Leg-islative and Communications Committees discuss thereplies from Congress and the coverage in the newspapers.If responses and coverage are favorable, compliment yourlegislator on his/her position and write another letter tothe editor thanking them for printing the letter. If theresponse and coverage are unfavorable, get more mem-bers, as well as family, friends and neighbors, to also write.

• Keep Voting Records: If possible, keep a large, visible vot-ing record in the Local office or meeting hall. Mark howyour members of Congress vote on important bills. Besure to compare your Local’s voting record with AFGE’svoting record, which is available on the AFGE Web site,www.afeg.org. Keep it up to date and have the LegislativeCommittee explain the new votes at each meeting.

Your Local’s Legislative and Communications Commit-tees can make a difference in mobilizing AFGE members totake action.

Jump Into Grassroots Action (continued from page 1)

Special Clip & Save Action Page: Here’s what you can do!

Talking With Congress about Wage Grade Pay

“Not every federal employee got a 4.6 percent pay raise inJanuary. Wage grade workers at my facility got 10 cents toninety-three cents an hour more. That’s not fair. We shouldget the same across-the-board pay raise as GS employees,”said Jim Brown of Local 1963 in Danville, Ill.

“We have a personal stake in changing the law. I believewe can make a difference if we call members of Congress.We must tell lawmakers that we have to work two jobs be-cause our pay is so low. We can’t afford to pay for health care.And if we don’t tell them they won’t know. Getting a guar-anteed GS pay raise will keep us from losing more ground.But we won’t get it unless we as individuals collectively goto Congress,” explained Ted Jones of Local 1674 in WestHaven, Conn.

AFGE is asking for your help to change the language in theTreasury, Postal Service, General Government AppropriationsBill to guarantee that Wage Grade workers would receive atleast the annual General Schedule (GS) pay raise. If we musthave a ceiling on pay raises, we should have a floor, too.

• Blue-collar employees who work for the federal govern-ment do not receive the General Schedule (GS) annualpay raise.

• Under the GS pay system, the annual raise is both a ceil-ing and a floor. No GS employee may get more than theamount granted for his or her respective pay locality,but he or she can not get less, either.

• Blue-collar employees are under the Federal Wage System(FWS). Under FWS there is no minimum raise, only alimit on the maximum raise (a ceiling on pay raises). WageGrade employees can get no pay raise or a raise of justpennies an hour.

• If Wage Grade employees can be paid no more than theGS annual adjustment, then they also deserve to receivethe GS annual adjustment as a minimum wage adjustment.

• FWS rarely pays prevailing wage rates because Congressand the President have imposed a ceiling on the raisesfor federal blue-collar workers for the past 20 years. Theceiling is established annually in the Treasury, Postal Ser-vice, General Government Appropriations Bill. The lan-guage for the ceiling is usually in Section 613 of thisappropriations bill.

• The ceiling on pay has absolutely nothing to do with pre-vailing private sector pay practices. Instead, the ceiling onfederal blue-collar employees is based on the adjustmentsto the GS.

• The ceiling on wage grade pay renders the FWS datacollection, analysis and pay-setting processes a futile andwasteful exercise.

Statistics on Wage Grade PayWage grade federal employees have been losing ground es-pecially relative to federal employees paid under the GS sys-tem, because FWS employees are not provided the GS payraise wage as a minimum.

Between 1990 and 2001, FWS workers at the lowestgrades suffered a 1.7 percent decline in the inflation-adjustedreal value of their pay. Blue-collar workers in the middle ofthe FWS classification system have seen just a 2.5 percentincrease on average in their purchasing power and those atthe top of the FWS scale have seen a modest 5.7 percent realincrease over the past decade.

Meanwhile, under the GS system that provides a mini-mum across-the-board increase each year, the inflation-ad-justed real value of their pay has increased anywhere from10 percent and 23.9 percent. The variation in this range isdue to locality differentials. Yet the comparison between thereal changes in GS and FWS pay are stark.

The decline in real income at the lowest FWS gradeshas put federal employees perilously close to poverty lev-els. Roughly 17,500 federal employees under the FWS earnless than $15,000 annually. Most work at the Departmentof Defense and at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Theirpay is just above the minimum wage but these federal em-ployees hover around the poverty level for a family of three.

If you agree the current Wage Grade Pay policy is unfair, use this information and the steps outlined above and take action! You CAN make a difference.

✁

88575mvpR1 3/8/02 10:15 PM Page 11


—www.afge.org

AFGE NEWS

Energy Local 1995Donates Toys

The 2001 Morgantown, W.V., communityholiday toy drive was a great success due inlarge part to AFGE members from Local1995 at the U. S. Department of Energy.The Local donated over $250 worth of toysto the toy drive, enough to fill a pick-up truck.

BOP Local 148 Raises$21,000

On Nov. 13, runners from Bureau of Pris-ons Local 148 set out from Lewisburg, Pa.,to New York City in a relay run to benefitthe families of the fallen New York policeofficers and fire fighters. 78 central Pa. lawenforcement officers participated in the 250-mile run, including 42 Lewisburg staff mem-bers, 34 Allenwood staff members, twoSchuylkill staff members, and two MahanoyTownship police officers. The group raisedover $21,000. In addition to thanking every-one who ran, drove and contributed, theLocal would also like to express a specialthanks to Warden Romine, A.W. Hobart,Captain Ey, Bruce Densberger, DaveFogelman, and Jeff Pealer for their vision,support and planning.

INS Local 2859 ReachesOut to Community

Local 2859 Immigration and Naturaliza-tion Service (INS) inspectors at the GrandAvenue Port of Entry in Nogales, Ariz., spon-sored a family which included Erika (12),Alejandro (11) and Patricia (10), for theirannual Christmas public outreach projectin 2001. AFGE members collected nearly$800, which was used to purchase gifts anddinner certificates. In addition to moneyraised for the family, boxes of clothing werealso donated. The local food bank alsodonated two boxes of non-perishable items,while the AFGE members purchased turkeysfor a special holiday dinner. Many other giftswere donated including a guitar for Erika(an item she had been wishing for) and anelectric organ.

AFGE Salutes MembersCalled Up to Active Duty

Calling all Guards The Government Standard salutes the fol-lowing AFGE members who have beencalled up or are on standby to be called upin the National Guard and Reserve: WalterMcCoy and Barbara Darby of DVA Local2798 in Washington, D.C.; Stan Peter-son and Herbert Romero of Local 2313 atthe Federal Corrections Institution (FCI) inSafford, Ariz.; Vincent D. Greer and AlanW. Mollet of Local 1304 at the FCI inGreenville, Ill.; and Kenneth Battle, GerryG. Fetalvero, Gary C. Fraley, Johnson B.Freeman, Freddie Garcia, Jerry R.Goodwin, Jr., Johnny Grant, Mark T. Her-vey, Charles L. Jones, Jr., Kevin P. Pe-ters, Robert F. Porter, John J. Urbanski,Jr., and Joseph A. Walker of Local 1869at the Charleston, S.C. Air Force Base.

Thank you to the following AFGE mem-bers and leaders for submitting informationto ‘Calling All Guards’: Admin. Asst. EvelynPender of Local 2798, Chief Steward JackieWhite of Local 2313, President Dan Gableof Local 1304 and District 5 National VicePresident Mary Lynn Walker.

The Government Standard would like tocontinue recognizing AFGE members, orloved ones of members, who serve in the Re-serves or the National Guard and have beencalled up to active duty. If you know of sucha person, please send his or her name, AFGELocal number, job title, your contact infor-mation, and—if possible—a photograph. Sendthe notice and picture to: The GovernmentStandard, ATTN: Calling All Guards, 80 FStreet, NW, Washington, D.C. 20001. If youcan send a photo, be sure to identify everyonein the picture. All photos become property ofthe AFGE Communications Dept.

Local 3977 Delivers Holiday Meal & Gifts

At the Federal Prison Camp at SeymourJohnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, N.C.,members of AFGE Local 3977 deliveredtheir third annual Thanksgiving meal to aneedy family in the Goldsboro communityon Nov. 21. In addition to delivering aThanksgiving turkey, the Local also deliv-ered Christmas gifts and holiday cheer tothe family in December.

Philadelphia DoD Local62 Signs Agreement

Local Plays Crucial Role in War on Terrorism

AFGE Local 62, District 2 and the Defense Sup-ply Center in Philadelphia (DSCP) met in Octoberand completed the first ever ManagementCollaboration Agreement. The agreement—whichwill effect over 2,500 workers—was signed in part-nership by Local President Brunson Edwards andBrigadier General J.A. Manguel. “The produc-tive and open relationship Local 62 has with theagency led to this agreement,” said Edwards.

The agreement will enable AFGE and DSCPto take positive action on bargaining issues andconcerns instead of reacting to problems after theyhave been identified. The agreement maintains

existing union and management rights but givesAFGE more latitude to work with managementto protect members’ health, safety and other in-terests in their jobs, such as the performance andthe future of the agency.

Since September 11, 2001, DSCP and over550 members of Local 62 have been working inharm’s way because they supply goods and serv-ices to warfighters in all services. AFGE membersare responsible for feeding and clothing thewarfighters, as well as ensuring necessary medi-cines are available.

What is Your Local Doing?We’re here to report what you’re doing! Whathas your Local been doing? Send us a storyand picture to: The Government Standard,ATTN: Local News, 80 F St., NW, Wash-ington, D.C. 20001. Or, e-mail it to [email protected]. If you’re sending aphoto, please be sure to identify everyonepictured. All photos and stories become prop-erty of the AFGE Communications Dept.

Local 1995’s VP Dan Doyle and HeatherQuedenfeld show the toys donated by

AFGE members. (l-r) Local 3977 Pres. Richard McNeill,Walter Cox and VP Horace Graham.

Local 62 Pres. Brunson Edwards and Brigadier General J.A. Manguel.

Rememberto send usyour photos!

88575mvpR1 3/8/02 10:15 PM Page 12

afge a a f & r · thirty-five afge local presidents attend orientation, training in washington,...

Documents