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6/4/2006
Presidents: Listed below are
the signed off on issues for the Contract.
Hazardous Pay
Parking
Seniority
Nursing Mothers
RIF
Fare Subsidies
Dues Withholding
Recognition and Coverage
Smoking
Pay Procedures
Self Referral
Position Classification
EAP
The Agency states they will be taking the rest of the issues to the
Impasses panel. We would like to hold more negotiation sessions. The 10 weeks we had
scheduled have concluded.
Stan
____________________
March 13, 2006
The second session
of negotiations was held from February
28, 2005 through March 9, 2006, with the day before and the day after were used for
travel.
The agency is
represented by Robinn Reed, Cheryl Alix, Bill Kent, Louise Fox, Lou Leny (Albany D.O.) and
Myron Greenhow. Ken Peterson came in for the first day with the intent to give the
union an interpretation of "Team Inspection".
A Processing Team
is made up of multiple CSI's in one geographic proximity, as determined by the agency,
sharing their existing assignments.
An In-Plant Team
is made up of on-line inspection personnel, determined qualified by the agency, to perform
off-line food safety verification procedures, rotate on an on-going and recurring basis
(e.g. daily or multiple times per week) between on-line and off-line work.
In the process of
negotiating, the agency also put us on notice of things that are either already in place
or is coming in the near future. For example, all applications will be on-line;
lateral applicants will also be on-line only; credit checks will be done before issuing a
government credit card. If we don't qualify, it will have no effect on our
obligation to a detail or assignment.
Both parties
exchanged proposals on a daily basis but the difference was, the union made vast attempts
to change the language but maintain our position. The agency would change one or two
words and say that that's as far as they can go. Needless to say, we did not
accomplish much except for the Employee Assistance Program article, which was signed-off
by both parties.
On March 9, 2006, this session was closed out with the agency giving
the union their counter to the Official Time article. This was the last one of their
original counters and they saved the best for last.
Official Time for
Union Representatives falls into two(2) catagories. "Non-Bank" and
"Bank" official time. No union official may use more than 25 per cent of
regular working hours per calendar year, for non-bank/bank official time activities.
Non-Bank official
time is like attending agency initiated meetings or committee meetings, etc.
Bank official time
is like disciplinary actions, prepare grievances, arbitration preparation, attend training
under Public Law 95-454, etc.
We will need to
track our official time just as we do now. There are other little jabs that were
taken against the union but these are just a few.
Folks, these
people were well prepared for an ambush and they are going for the jugular, but that will
not stop or deter us from standing up for our rights as human beings.
The next session
(third) is scheduled for March 20, 2006 through March 31, 2006, which will be held in Washington, D.C..
In Solidarity,
The Negotiating Team
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Feb 18, 2006
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The Union and Agency negotiation teams were in Dallas from Jan. 30 to Feb. 10 for the
first (of five) two-week negotiation session in pursuit a new collective bargaining
agreement. The union presented a total of 55 article proposals to the agency and the
agency presented 37 article proposals to the Union.
We spent the two-week session in Dallas going back and forth over both parties' initial
proposals, and both parties also made a few counter proposals. During the session we
technically signed off on three items, the Preamble, Hazardous Pay, and the definition of
Seniority. As expected the contract negotiations have been just as tough as we
anticipated. It is a very slow and time-consuming process. It is emotionally, mentally,
and physically grueling. We left the Dallas session on Feb. 10 with no more than
those three items agreed to.
I firmly believe that the Agency recognizes in the Union's team that we are not going to
give up and take just any crumb they throw at us as a means of reaching an agreement. We
are not going to break under the pressure of management's thinly veiled threats. The Union
team stood tall, strong, and united, and we will continue to do so. We will inform you, as
to our progress and as to when we are able to make agreements.
Let your people know, especially your online slaughter people, that the Agency doesn't
feel they are worthy of relief breaks any more. In their proposals, the Agency eliminated
all language pertaining to relief breaks other than the relief breaks taken by the
establishments. The agency doesn't seem to think our people need any other relief breaks,
that those relief breaks the company's take are sufficient. The Union of course feels that
the 30 minutes in the current contract is no longer sufficient, as those thirty minutes
were first established in 1984 (maybe longer ago than that), when line speeds were easily
half of what they are today. The Union has asked for forty-five minutes of relief breaks
per day, and a line in the sand has clearly been drawn on that issue.
The Agency wants to reduce the number of Labor Management meetings (at all levels), and
they want to reduce the number of Union participants at Labor Management meetings.
The Agency wants greater control of the rotation of assignments, etc.
In their proposals the agency made multiple references to pay "levels" as
opposed to pay grades, which is clearly indicative of their intent to move to a system of
pay banding in which pay grades would be replaced by pay levels. Step increases would be
replaced by pay for performance systems which are bound to reward the fair-haired and
sycophant while at the same time penalizing any inspector who dares to think or act
independently or contrary to the agency's alleged public health mission. Pay banding, by
executive order of George W. Bush, is to be in place in all federal agencies by 2009.
Government wide, the Department of Homeland Security is leading the pay banding charge,
but within the Department of Agriculture, and the approximately 25 agencies in our
Department, FSIS is leading the pay banding charge. While the agency has actually provided
the Union with little information about their plans for pay banding, they expect us to sit
at the negotiating table and bargain blindly over the possibility of what is coming in the
future. It is a sick perversion of normal contract bargaining protocol.
Another issue the agency expects the Union to bargain blindly on is "team"
inspection, as there are a few references to "team" in the agency's proposals
but yet again there has been no information provided to the Union about what the agency's
intentions are pertaining to team inspection. This is just further perversion of normal
contract bargaining protocol, and the Union simply will not bargain blindly over what the
agency might want to do in the future. If the agency has plans pertaining to pay banding
or team inspection, it is the Union's hard-line position that we want those issues on the
bargaining table now, not after negotiations have concluded and we have a contract in
place, as we would then be administratively raped and sodomized through expensive mid-term
bargaining about issues we should be taking care of now.
The Agency wants to determine when we take our annual leave and
cancel it if they see fit, etc. One of the biggest sources of both amusement and disgust
for the Union team was pertaining to annual leave. The agency put forth the claim that
morale is low in the agency for the singular reason that new employees can't get the
annual leave they want. That is why the agency wants to change the annual leave scheduling
procedures I guess, to cater to new employees. Well boo freaking hoo hoo. This nation was
built on the foundation of seniority in the workplace, and that seniority generally
dictates vacation selections. The agency doesn't think that working without a break might
affect morale just a little bit more than not getting the annual leave a person wants?
Cripes, a person will eventually have more seniority but once you lose a break you never
get that back.
Don't think for one second that this Agency cares about the bargaining unit people who are
the backbone of the agency, the people who are the very foundation of this agency. The big
wheels that run this agency, and the henchmen of the current political administration
could care less about the bargaining unit people doing the actual work. Their only vision
is the budget and 85% of that goes to salaries (more theirs than ours) and they generally
don't care if one inspector has to cover six establishments or if establishments operate
24-7 without any inspection at all. At the bargaining table it is not about food safety or
public health. It is about political and corporate greed, and the agency's blood lust for
the power and authority to keep the bargaining unit people of this agency under a strict
and unforgiving system of command and control.
Do not get too discouraged, and don't allow our members to become discouraged either. The Union's
negotiating team will do everything that we can to prevent the Agency from getting what
they want, but we know it will be an uphill battle, and our rank and file
members need to understand the magnitude of the task the Union bargaining team has on
its hands. I have not lost faith in the Union's ability to affect change, not even close,
and I don't expect you folks, or the folks you represent to lose faith either. I
believe in the Union and that is all there is to it.
The Union needs our support at all levels, from the locals to the
councils to the NJC to the Union bargaining team, now more than ever before. At all levels
the Union is not only fighting to keep what we have now but also trying to get back some
of what we lost in our last contract. Our rank and file has no idea what we are going
through during these negotiations. Everything is a battle. All of our Union
officers, Union advocates, and rank and file members deserve thanks from all of us
for standing strong with us, and not giving up the fight.
This isn't a time to become weak-kneed or to jump ship. This is the time for all of us to
step up to the plate and swing the bat as hard as possible. As union members we are all on
the team, and we all have a role to play on this team. Nobody sits on the bench on this
team. We all need to assume a role of responsibility for the team. Each and every day out
there in the field we all need to swing the bat as hard as possible for the Union,
and advocate the virtues of the Union, and show management that this fight is not only
taking place at the bargaining table, but out in all field locations as
well. We start another two-week negotiation session in Atlanta, GA on Feb 27,
and the Union's negotiating team will be swinging for the fences every chance we get. I
implore each and every one of you to do the same.
Best Wishes,
Trent
President
Midwest Council of Food Inspection Locals, AFGE
____________________________
American
Federation of Government Employees
AFGE- Local 2325 NC/SC
Scott
Schwartz - President
138
Bryantville Park Rd.
Como, NC 27818
Phone: (252) 398-4416 Fax: (252) 398-5516
February 5, 2006
To all inspectors:
I want to take a moment to
inform all of you as to the progress of the contract negotiations. I have spoken with
Southern Council President, Stan Painter and he has informed me that this will be a slow
process. It could take six (6) months or more. The last contract negotiations took
fourteen (14) months and we know how that turned out. The Agency is not going to roll over
and give us anything, so do not expect a quick end. The National Joint Council (NJC) is
working on ways to keep the inspectors apprised of the progress. As each Article of the
contract is finalized, the NJC would like to inform the inspectors as to what it entails.
The problem with this is that although the negotiations for that Article may be finished,
there is nothing the stops it from being reopened at both sides request. This means that until the entire contract is
finished and signed there is no Article that could truly be labeled as finished. It has
taken 32 hours at the table this week alone, but, as of today, the only Article signed off
on is the Preamble. The NJC has also signed off on Hazardous pay, which will be included
in another Article. The NJC now has on the table, Employee rights, Governing Laws, Leave,
Overtime, Mid-term negotiations, and Pay scale, just to name a few. As they make progress,
Mr. Painter will keep me informed and I will pass along any information that I get. We
need to keep fighting for what is right and what is ours. There is no need to give
anything away. Stay tuned to this space for more updates as I get them
Scott Schwartz
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AFGE
LOCAL 2325 
