Federal Daily - July 27, 2009

Retiree Re-Employment Measure added to Defense Bill

Susan Collins, R-Maine, succeeded in obtaining approval of an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2010 National Defense Authorization Act, S. 1390, which would allow agencies to re-employ federal retirees on a limited, part-time basis without offset of annuity from their salaries. Collins, along with Sens. Herbert Kohl, D-Wis., and George Voinovich, R-Ohio, pushed for the amendment after Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, withdrew under threat of filibuster another amendment that included that measure as well as other significant federal workplace reforms. Akaka’s withdrawn amendment also included a measure to allow Federal Employees Retirement System workers to credit their unused sick leave toward their retirement, and a measure to phase out cost-of-living allowances (COLAs) for federal employees living in Alaska, Hawaii and U.S. territories, and replace them with locality pay. The provisions also are included in House version of the NDAA, H.R. 2647, which passed the House June 25. The two bills will be reconciled in conference. To see more, go to: www.narfe.org/departments/home/articles.cfm?ID=1852, or http://akaka.senate.gov.

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Senate Bill Would Reverse USPS ‘Pre-Funding’ Mandate

Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., on July 23 introduced a bill that would—if signed into law—reverse a postal reform law that requires the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to “pre-fund” retiree healthcare benefits. Carper said the 2006 pre-funding requirement threatens to drive the Postal Service into insolvency and that something needs to be done before the next $5.4 billion payment is due on Sept. 30. “The economic slowdown and the ever-growing electronic diversion of the mail have put a serious strain on our nation’s Postal Service,” said Carper. “We in Congress must provide some way to help preserve the vital services post offices provide for American families and businesses.” The Carper bill also gives the postal service more borrowing authority to meet its financial obligations to get through Fiscal Year (FY) 2009, which ends Sept. 30, and FY 2010.

Carper pointed out that USPS expects mail volume to be roughly 175 billion pieces in FY 2009 year, a decline of 38 billion pieces since 2007. The Postal Service is also projecting a loss of $7.1 billion in FY 2009. The measure, S. 1507, is a companion bill to H.R. 22, which the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee unanimously approved on July 10. The House bill is expected to come up for debate on the floor before the August recess and is expected to save USPS more than $2 billion per year. No other federal agency is required to pre-fund retiree health care benefits.  To see more, go to: http://carper.senate.gov/press/record.cfm?id=316153.

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AFGE Meets With TSA, Discusses Union Representation, Workforce Issues

For the first time, American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) representatives met with top Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials in an attempt to resolve a series of labor-management issues, including union representation for Transportation Security Officers (TSOs). The July 23 AFGE/TSA meeting was the first formal labor-management get-together since the agency was created eight years ago, said AFGE President John Gage. Gage and the AFGE delegation met with acting TSA Administrator Gale Rossides, TSA Chief of Staff Art Macias and other agency officials. Topics of discussion also included the agency’s pay-for-performance system and certifications; leave policies, disciplinary actions and field management culture, AFGE said.  “The past eight years with the Bush administration have been an uphill battle and we are finally beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” said Gage. “This is a battle not just for bargaining rights, but for the respect and dignity long overdue to TSOs.” Last week, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) said it planned to meet with TSA officials on July 29 to discuss workplace issues important to NTEU-represented TSA employees. To see more, go to: www.afge.org/Index.cfm?Page=PressReleases&PressReleaseID=1026.

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