Federal Diary

Federal Union Leaders Recall Kennedy as a Worker's Friend

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:02:30 -0500

RENO, Nev., Aug. 25 — Federal employees lost a good friend when Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) died Tuesday night. Colleen M. Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, recalled a man who was “visible and up front in his recognition of federal employees.” When he spoke to the organization’s rallies and legislative conferences, his remarks “were from his heart and from knowledge that he had about the work that they did,” Kelley said. “It was never a scripted speech that he read. ... You could see the passion that he had for federal employees, for the country and for the work federal employees did for the country.” From a long list of federal workplace issues that Kennedy advocated, Kelley made particular note of his efforts to fight plans by the George W. Bush administration to have outside contractors do government work. “He believed first and foremost that the

White House to Create National Council on Federal Labor Relations

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:11:11 -0500

The White House plans to create a National Council on Federal Labor Relations, with the intention of fostering cooperation between federal employees and management and the goal of improving government service. The Council would be patterned on the labor-management partnerships created under former President Bill Clinton, then largely abandoned under George W. Bush. Federal unions have pushed the Obama administration to issue an order creating the council, and it is preparing to do so. A draft executive order being readied for President Obama says “Labor-Management Forums will allow managers and employees to collaboratively champion change in the Federal Government so that agencies can deliver the highest quality services to the American people.”

Report: U.S. Cybersecurity Workforce Inadequate

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:00:53 -0500

A few weeks ago, President Obama declared cybersecurity to be “one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation” and said “we’re not as prepared as we should be, as a government or as a country.” His words basically sum up a new report by a nonprofit organization that calls on his administration to quickly and significantly improve the quality and quantity of the federal cybersecurity workforce. “Critical government and private sector computer networks are under constant attack from foreign nations, criminal groups, hackers, virus writers and terrorist organizations,” said the report, published by the Partnership for Public Service and the consulting firm of Booz Allen Hamilton. The report outlines four primary challenges it says threaten the quality and quantity of the cybersecurity workforce. »There are not enough qualified applicants for federal cybersecurity jobs. »The government’s approach to cybersecurity is fragmented and uncoordinated. »The

SES Surveying Top-Level Federal Workers

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:46:43 -0500

The Senior Executives Association is marking the 30th anniversary of the Senior Executive Service by trying to find out why upper-level federal workers don't want to join the very top ranks of the civil service. The association is surveying GS-14s and GS-15, those employees at the upper levels of the federal General Schedule workforce classification system. The SES ranks are above GS-15. "Many talented, able members of this feeder group do not aspire to positions in the executive corps," according to SEA President Carol Bonosaro. "The reasons most often cited include the loss of locality pay and of a guaranteed annual national comparability raise, increased hours and responsibilities, and executive pay overlap with the General Schedule and the National Security Personnel System." She said the survey is timely because many senior executives are eligible to retire. “It is important that we know the thoughts of the group of individuals next

Getting Fired Can Be a Costly Process for Taxpayers

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:03:47 -0500

Tomorrow is an anniversary Bob Whitmore never sought and it has been marked with a present he doesn’t want. Two years ago Thursday, Whitmore was placed on paid administrative leave by the Labor Department, where he is a senior executive in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Now, after the agency paid him $300,000 to do nothing, he learned yesterday that he will be fired this month. This is not a story about whether Whitmore deserves to get the boot or not. It is a story about a bureaucracy that strings along a 37-year employee with a good record of service. The bosses prohibited him from doing a lick of work, even from home, causing taxpayers to pay for zilch. Certainly there should be no rush to judgment in cases where a career is at stake. But there is nothing to suggest Whitmore’s case should have taken so long to

Pay Parity May Not Get Far With Congress

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:52:10 -0500

“Pay parity” is a mantra federal civilian employees have long chanted to great effect. For most of the last 20 years, they have used the power of positive thinking, not to mention good hard lobbying, to persuade Congress they should get the same pay raise rate as members of the military. But at this point, Frankie and Flo Fed don’t appear to have much more than a hope and prayer that Congress will give them the 3.4 percent increase the men and women in uniform are slated to get. More likely for civilians is the 2.9 percent cost-of-living increase the Senate Appropriations Committee approved last week. That’s certainly better than the 2 percent raise President Obama proposed in his budget for fiscal 2010. And because the House appropriations bill is silent on civilian pay, there currently is no vehicle Frankie and Flo can ride to the land of 3.4. That

Postal Service Gets a Little Help on the Hill

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:21:23 -0500

A House committee has thrown the U.S. Postal Service a lifeline, but it won’t be enough to fully stop the financial quicksand that continues to pull the agency under. Legislation the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee advanced on Friday would allow USPS to pay for the health benefits of current retirees out of its Retiree Health Benefit Fund instead of its operating budget. That would save about $2 billion a year, during the three years the bill covers. That sounds good until you realize the Postal Service — which is funded by customers, not tax dollars — lost that amount in just the second quarter this year and expects to lose $6 billion this fiscal year. Changing the funding of retiree benefits will help, but it won’t stop the recession from sucking revenue from the agency. That sucking sound is the financial stability of the Postal Service draining away

Domestic Benefits: A Sure Thing for Same-Sex Partners

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:51:23 -0500

In case there was any lingering doubt from last fall about the government’s position on providing domestic benefits for same-sex partners of federal workers, Office of Personnel Director John Berry erased them this afternoon. The White House and OPM, he said at the top of his statement to a House hearing, “wholeheartedly endorse passage” of legislation that would provide that health and retirement coverage. His clear, declarative statement could not have been more of a turnaround from the agency’s bumbling presentation in September. Then, an OPM official told a Senate committee that the Bush administration had no position on similar legislation, only to minutes later correct himself after being slipped a note by an aide, to say OPM actually opposed the bill. His use of the movie “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry,” an Adam Sandler film about two fire fighters who pretend they are lovers so they can

OPM's, Berry, the 'Energizer Bunny,' Moves on Improvements

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:38:05 -0500

His vigorous efforts to improve federal workforce practices led a meeting host to introduce Office of Personnel Director John Berry at a forum last week as the Energizer bunny. But in a recent memo he wrote to agency chiefs, Berry sounds more like a modern-day Elliot Ness, a determined enforcer of personnel policies, setting deadlines to transfer those plans into practice. Berry has created SWAT teams and wolf packs to push federal agencies to improve the government’s hiring process and better conditions for those already on the payroll. In a June 18 memo to department and agency heads, he said that by Wednesday “each agency will establish a SWAT team” to map current hiring procedures, identify and analyze barriers to efficient hiring, and develop “streamlined and plain language job opportunity announcements.” In addition, Berry named high-level OPM managers as his “hiring wolf pack team lead” and “wellness wolf pack team

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Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:38:05 -0500

House Committee Gives Postal Service a Break

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:08:58 -0500

A House panel approved legislation today that would provide some relief to the ailing U.S. Postal Service, with a bill that would allow the agency to pay for the health benefits of current retirees out of its Retiree Health Benefit Fund instead of its operating budget. The Postal Service estimates the measure would save the agency between $2 billion and $2.6 billion a year for each of three years. Originally, the measure was designed to provide eight years of relief, but Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, chairman of the House subcommittee on the federal workforce, postal service, and the District of Columbia, said Congress probably would not approve that because the longer term would be too costly to the Treasury. The postal service is in dire straights because mail volume has been dropping sharply. The number of pieces delivered in May was down about 30 percent compared with May 2008, according

Shea-Porter to Offer Amendment to End NSPS

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:49:49 -0500

Legislation the House Armed Services Committee will consider today could make many Pentagon civilians giddy. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-N.H.) plans to offer an amendment to the Defense authorization bill that would effectively end the pay for performance system known as the National Security Personnel System. Federal employee unions and many workers have long called for the dismantling of NSPS. "With worker morale reaching an unprecedented low, the time has come to abandon this ill-conceived plan, which has wasted billions of taxpayers' dollars," Richard N. Brown, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees, said in a letter supporting the amendment. Under the Shea-Porter amendment, within one year all NSPS employees would convert to the General Schedule, the pay system for most federal workers, unless the Defense secretary notifies Congress of significant NSPS improvements. Similar provisions would apply to the Defense Civilian Intelligence Personnel System.

Panel Okays Bill to Free D.C. Employees of Hatch Act Restrictions

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 11:16:02 -0500

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee approved legislation yesterday that would free District of Columbia employees from federal Hatch Act restrictions. But D.C. workers shouldn't think they soon will be free to engage in any political activities that are now prohibited. The act says federal and D.C. workers may not be candidates for public office in partisan elections and engage in political activity, including wearing partisan political buttons, while on duty. Under the bill the committee approved by unanimous voice vote, the federal Hatch Act would continue to apply to D.C. workers until the District approves its own law regulating the political activity of local government employees. Those workers were never freed from the restrictions of the federal law after D.C. received its current level of home rule. “The Federal Hatch Act jurisdiction over local law is an obsolete pre-home rule holdover,” Norton said. “It is a misfit between

New OPM Director Wants to 'Get Some Stuff Done' Quickly

Wed, 27 May 2009 17:22:00 -0500

John Berry, the new director of the Office of Personnel Management, has ambitious plans to improve conditions for federal government employees and those who want to work for it. In a wide-ranging meeting with a small group of reporters in his office this morning, Berry, who has been in office six weeks, listed three-short term and three long-term goals for his administration. He said he’s “going to try to get some stuff done here as fast as we can.” His short term goals are reforming the government’s recruiting and hiring practices, improving work life and workplace conditions and pushing increased federal employment opportunities for veterans. Berry said he hopes “to get some points on the board” within a year on those three items. Over the longer term, he wants to increase diversity within the federal workforce, control health care costs for federal employees while maintaining benefits and reform the federal

Whistleblowers Claim Victory in Dispute with Army Corps

Fri, 22 May 2009 16:35:00 -0500

The National Whistleblowers Center is claiming victory in its dispute with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, saying the agency's "attempt to censor Bunnatine (Bunny) H. Greenhouse has backfired." As the Federal Diary blog reported earlier this week, just hours after Greenhouse testified in favor of whistleblower protection legislation at a congressional hearing last week, was told she should not testify again without submitting her testimony to corps officials for approval in advance, according to her lawyers at the whistleblowers center. Greenhouse is a well-known whistleblower because she complained about Pentagon contracting issues during the run-up to the Iraq war. On Tuesday, her lawyers sent a letter of protest to President Obama and asked the public to do the same. Late yesterday, “Greenhouse was again emailed, this time advising that she did not have to comply with the censorship requirements. "This in an important victory,” said Michael Kohn, president of

Postal Service Limping Towards Five-Day Delivery

Wed, 20 May 2009 16:45:00 -0500

If we still used the Pony Express to deliver mail, someone would shoot the horse to put it out of its misery. The U.S. Postal Service is like a once proud thoroughbred now crippled with a broken leg -- or two. The Postal Service remains a venerable institution, but it has been so severely handicapped by the recession that lawmakers are beginning to seriously consider cutting a day of delivery. That gradual -- and reluctant -- shift in attitudes was evident at a congressional hearing today where the Postal Service again made a plea for legislation that would allow it to deliver mail five days a week instead of six. “The only way we’ll embrace it is if we have no other choice and we’re getting to that point,” said Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (D-Mass.) chairman of the House subcommittee on federal workforce, postal service and the District of Columbia.