FederalDaily - November 30, 2006

NTEU Wins Arbitration Decision

The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), representing Customs and Border Protection (CBP) employees, received a favorable arbitration decision in a dispute over CBP management’s refusal to bargain with the union over changes in assignment and overtime procedures. NTEU said on Nov. 28 that the decision moves employees a step closer to having a say in assignment, overtime and other workplace changes that impact them. The arbitrator sided with NTEU, which has maintained that CBP has an obligation to bargain over the impact of changes to work assignments. The dispute has roots in a 1995 National Inspectional Assignment Policy (NIAP), which NTEU had negotiated with the U.S. Customs Service. Following the 9/11 attacks, Customs declared that it no longer had to bargain over the policy with NTEU. When Customs was rolled into the Department of Homeland Security, management still refused to bargain, NTEU said. The arbitrator gave both parties 60 days to determine a remedy and if they cannot agree, the arbitrator will impose one, NTEU said. To see more, go to: www.cbpunion.org/PressRelease/PressRelease.aspx?ID=991.

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Senators Concerned Over Missing Alien Files

Two senators expressed concern over a new report that shows the government is still doing an incomplete job of tracking illegal aliens—to the point where it approved U.S. citizenship for a suspected terrorist. Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, said on Nov. 28 that a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report shows 111,000 alien files were missing from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) offices and that as many as 30,000 immigrants became U.S. citizens despite the missing files. Grassley and Collins requested the report after the Immigration and Naturalization Service granted U.S. citizenship to a suspected terrorist without checking his background file—which had been lost. His citizenship application was therefore approved despite terrorist connections indicated in his file. The senators noted that the 9/11 hijackers entered the United States on legal visas, overstayed their permitted time, but weren’t being tracked by the government. “It only takes one missing file of somebody with links to a terrorist organization to become an American citizen,” Grassley said.  “We can’t afford to be handing out citizenship with blinders on.” To see more, go to: http://grassley.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Press
Releases.Detail&PressRelease_id=5219&Month=11&Year=2006

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Ex-IRS Agent Sentenced for Conspiracy Scheme

A former IRS agent was sentenced to 40 months in prison on charges of conspiracy and causing the failure to file Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs) as part of a scheme to finance an illegal computer software company. Clarence Walker, 56, of San Jose, Calif., was responsible for educating businesses that cash checks about the requirement to file CTR for all cash transactions over $10,000. CTR helps reveal tax violations, money laundering and other criminal activity. However, from 2000 to 2002, Walker conspired with a number of businesses to cash more than $400,000 in checks at stores he monitored, telling those businesses not to file the required CTR. The cash was then used to fund a ring of software pirates who sold and produced counterfeit software internationally, the Department of Justice said on Nov. 28. To see more, go to:  www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2006/November/06_crm_793.html

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