Unions

  • Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) introduced a bill Thursday that would reduce the amount new federal employees must pay toward their government pensions. The National Treasury Employees Union and the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association support the legislation, which would repeal the last two increases in retirement contributions.

    August 01, 2014
  • Carolyn Watts Colvin, the nominee to be Social Security Administration commissioner, vowed to Senate lawmakers to soothe turbulent relations between the agency and its labor unions. Colvin also said she plans to tackle troubled IT systems that still run COBOL.

    August 01, 2014
  • The Environmental Protection Agency's administrator recently mentioned the administrative obstacles of firing employees and suggested Congress change the law. One of the unions representing EPA employees is now responding in a letter that blames management, not employees for agency problems.

    July 17, 2014
  • The House has approved a massive spending bill that would slash funding for the Internal Revenue Service by more than $1 billion next year. The agency, which has been under fire for the improper targeting of conservative groups, would see its current $11.3 billion budget decline by 13 percent under the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill for fiscal 2015 passed by the House Wednesday. But that's just one of the the provisions of the bill drawing the ire of the Obama administration, which issued a notice earlier this week threatening to veto the legislation.

    July 16, 2014
  • The House of Representatives passed a bill that would cut more than $300 million from last year's Internal Revenue Service budget. This adds to the tension between Congress and the IRS over lost emails.

    June 23, 2014
  • The House and Senate have appointed members to a conference committee on legislation to revamp the Veterans Affairs health care system. Regardless of how Congress ends up changing the structure to address long wait times for patients, the system will need more money for emergencies. That is one request from the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents many front-line VA employees. J. David Cox is the union's president and a former VA nurse. He joined Tom Temin and Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive to discuss how the problems at the VA are affecting the front-line employees.

    June 23, 2014
  • An early House version appropriations language for 2015 would bring the IRS budget below sequestration levels in fiscal 2015. Earlier this week, the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government approved funding levels that are more than $300 million below what the agency has to spend this year. IRS officials have been adamant that even that level is far too low. The bill comes right after warnings from the Government Accountability Office for the IRS to make some long term budget plans to better deal with an uncertain financial future. Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, is looking at what the cuts would mean for agency operations and the workforce. She tells In Depth with Francis Rose these cuts go too far. Read related article by Federal News Radio's Stephanie Wasko.

    June 20, 2014
  • During the final edition of Inside Government on Federal News Radio, your host Ward Morrow speaks with Chris Garlock of the DC Labor Film Fest and discusses issues at the Bureau of Prisons with Eric Young, the AFGE Council of Prisons Locals. Inside Government also looks back through AFGE history with the union's Chief of Staff, Brian DeWyngaert, and discusses what's next with AFGE National President J. David Cox, Sr.

    June 19, 2014
  • The Government Accountability Office recommended the IRS develop long-term strategies and use ROI data comparisons to better operate with a less-than-ideal budget.

    June 13, 2014
  • This week "Inside Government" celebrates National LGBT Pride Month by re-airing interviews with Frank Fragomene, an EEO specialist and attorney from the AFGE Women's and Fair Practices Department; Sasha Buchert, a staff attorney at the Transgender Law Center; and, Darren Phelps, the AFL-CIO executive director of Pride at Work. Caniesha Washington, an EEO Specialist from the AFGE Women's and Fair Practices Department, previews the upcoming Diversity Week trainings in Minneapolis.

    June 12, 2014
  • Federal prisons are becoming more violent and dangerous for the guards who work in them. But the guards have a new tool that can help: a contract. It took 16 years to negotiate and ratify. Eric Young is president of American Federation of Government Employees' Council of Prison Locals. He joined Tom Temin and Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive to discuss the new contract.

    June 06, 2014
  • This week "Inside Government" speaks with Carmen Berkley, the Civil, Human and Women's Rights Director at the AFL-CIO discusses voter protection; The National Defense Authorization Act and its impact on DoD employees is explained by Don Hale, Chair of AFGE's Defense Conference; The Social Security Administration's Vision for the year 2025 with AFGE SSA Council 220 President Witold Skwiercznyski; and, the Stop Staples Campaigns and Efforts to Privatize the Postal Service with American Postal Workers Union President Mark Dimondstein.

    June 04, 2014
  • Following complaints of widespread discrimination, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is overhauling its system for evaluating employee performance. The financial watchdog's performance-appraisal system resulted in "systematically lower ratings" for black and Hispanic employees, employees over the age of 40, employees located in field offices and those employed at lower pay scales, according to report on the performance-appraisal system published by the agency earlier this month.

    May 30, 2014
  • Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) introduced the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR) Act Friday, calling for a 3.3 percent pay increase for federal employees for calendar year 2015. Federal employee union leaders praised the proposal, which would raise feds' pay more than the 1 percent President Barack Obama introduced in his 2015 budget proposal. The bill is similar to one introduced in March by House Democrats.

    May 23, 2014