SSA, AFGE sign off on final contract

The Social Security Administration and its largest union, the American Federation of Government Employees, have signed off on a final contract, capping more than two years of tough negotiations.

The union and SSA management signed off on 53 final articles to the four-year contract, all of which much be approved by AFGE members during the “ratification” process.

The final contract includes changes to office travel and benefits, among a number of...

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The Social Security Administration and its largest union, the American Federation of Government Employees, have signed off on a final contract, capping more than two years of tough negotiations.

The union and SSA management signed off on 53 final articles to the four-year contract, all of which much be approved by AFGE members during the “ratification” process.

The final contract includes changes to office travel and benefits, among a number of provisions.

Since the two sides began talks in late 2009, negotiations often became tangled in stalemate.

Citing a lack of progress in talks, AFGE requested the negotiations be moved to the Federal Services Impasse Panel in October 2011. The next month, Witold Skwierczynski, AFGE’s chief negotiator, told Federal News Radio the two sides remained “far apart” and that it would be “pointless to continue on the path that we’re on.”

Nevertheless, negotiators reached a basic “conceptual agreement” in March. The “breakthrough” followed four weeks of “intense mediation,” Skwierczynski said.

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