Federal Daily - June 28, 2010
Pistole Gets Unanimous Nod as New TSA Administrator
The Transportation Security Administration finally got an administrator on June 25 when the full Senate unanimously confirmed the FBI’s No. 2 man, John Pistole, to serve in the role. Pistole is President Obama’s third nominee for the position. Previous candidates dropped out shortly after being nominated.
But surviving the confirmation process may be the easy part for Pistole. The new administrator now must address what two unions representing TSA employees are pushing as the key issue at the agency—collective bargaining rights for Transportation Security Officers.
Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, one of the unions currently representing TSA employees, applauded the confirmation—and then issued a call to action.
“The best way to aid TSA in reaching the goals Congress set for it, and that the traveling public expects of TSA, is for its workforce to have a meaningful voice,” Kelley said, “and no mechanism provides such a voice as well as the right to bargain collectively.”
John Gage, national president of the other TSA union, the American Federation of Government Employees, also offered congratulations—and a demand for action on the issue.
“It is essential that TSOs are afforded the same rights to negotiate over important workplace issues, due process, whistleblower protections, veterans’ preference, appropriate salaries, fair pay increases, and leave policies as other federal workers,” Gage said, “including other Department of Homeland Security employees, including those working for the Border Patrol, Citizenship and Immigration Services, Coast Guard, Federal Protective Service, FEMA, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement …”
To see more, go to: www.afge.org and www.nteu.org.
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Fed Supervisor Training Bill Advances
A Senate committee has finally addressed a 2009 bill that would—if signed into law—improve federal workforce management by establishing basic training standards for managers and supervisors. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on June 24 passed the Federal Supervisor Training Act, S. 674, introduced more than a year ago by Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii.
The measure would require federal supervisors to receive initial training within one year of promotion, and once every three years thereafter. Training requirements would cover basic supervision, mentorship, and prohibited personnel practices. And, the bill would require mentoring programs within departmental agencies to help new supervisors learn from more experienced managers.
Akaka’s legislation also includes an accountability provision to establish competency standards to ensure the training is effective while requiring the Office of Personnel Management to collect data on the programs,
The Federal Managers Association applauded the movement on the bill. “Whether serving as mediators between upper level managers and their staff or clearly defining organizational goals, well-trained federal managers serve a vital role in the continuity of operations on a day-to-day basis,” said FMA President Patricia Niehaus.
A companion measure, H.R.5522, was recently introduced in the House and is pending in the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
To see more, go to: www.fedmanagers.org/public/announcement.cfm?id=469.
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Craigslist founder helps HHS with employee idea competition
Federal Computer Week—By Alice Lipowicz. Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist, is helping the Health and Human Services Department publicize its employee-only HHS Innovates idea competition.
“The rank and file of any organization, public or private sector, they are the folks who know what is going on, and how to do the things maybe a little better,” Newmark said in a YouTube conversation about HHS Innovates posted on his blog June 21.
Newmark, who also is advising HHS on the competition, appears in the video with Todd Park, HHS’ chief technology officer. Park published a link to Newmark's blog entry in a June 22 statement on the HHS Open Government Web site.
HHS intends to run the employee-only competition on an HHS intranet site twice a year. Employees from the department's nine agencies have been working in teams to submit ideas, which are being voted on, for improving departmental operations.
Six teams have submitted 126 ideas in the employee-only competition, Park said.
Starting this week, all employees will be able to vote on the best ideas at an internal HHS Web site and the winners will be announced in August. The top three teams will each receive $2,500.
“Some of the innovations are about inventing new processes to save time and resources, others are using technology to address health issues, a variety of health information technology applications,” Newmark wrote in his blog. “So far, it [has] exceeded all of our wildest dreams.”
To see more from FCW, go to: www.fcw.com.
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