|
I am following in GESTA Area Vice President, Dave William’s footsteps and using popular culture as a starting point for an important discussion. In his case, he wrote about a coach leveling with his team that he was going to leave for a new job, and suggesting that Goddard management would do well to emulate his example. In my case, I will use the Clash song “Know Your Rights” as a motivation for sharing information about your rights as a GESTA bargaining unit employee. The song is “a public service announcement, with guitars”, commenting on life in Thatcher’s UK, but it resonates with me here and now. Knowing your rights under Federal law and GESTA’s agreements with Goddard is important to all of us right now. This is the first in a series of articles covering these rights.
A House budget reconciliation package has recently gone to the Senate for review. There were some wins for federal retirement benefits in the changes made from the initial House bill, but more changes are needed. Furthermore, the Senate's Homeland Security and Government Affairs committee made changes that worsened the impact to federal employees and unions. The current bill triples FERS contributions for new employees unless they become at-will employees, gives the president authority to unilaterally close agencies, taxes union dues, and enacts a $350 fee to exercise due process rights through the Merit Systems Protection Board. Our union IFPTE President Matthew Biggs released a statement, saying: “We call on all lawmakers in Congress to oppose these budget reconciliation provisions that attack the federal government and the federal workforce that serves the American public. This is not just about standing up for our members and our union, but for all Americans.” Just this week, the Senate parliamentarian ruled that these sections targeting federal employees must be removed from the current reconciliation bill since they constitute significant “non-budgetary policy changes”. This ruling is a big win for our rights, but it remains important to keep up pressure on Congress so these policies are not put forward in a different form.
IFPTE has set up a webpage on Action Network which provides an easy way for you to send a letter to your Senators asking them to reject these potential changes to federal employees benefits and rights, with a letter template you can edit: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-your-senators-stop-the-attack-on-federal-unions-civil-service-protections-and-government-services-and-agencies-in-budget-reconciliation-bill You can share this link with friends and family in other states, and ask them to contact their Senators too. As usual, these actions should be performed on personal time, using a personal device, and not at work. |
GESTA IFPTE
|
RSS Feed
