May 2, 2003

GILES FILES
By
Duncan Giles
President
NTEU Chapter 49

On this and that………

First off, it’s the closing stretch for filling out the Survey.  Ahh, I can hear the groans from here…..Seriously, this is the employees way to make their voices heard.  Is it perfect?  Not be a long shot.  But there have been several successes out of Survey and nothing ever changed through silence.  I encourage all employees to take the Survey.  Also, see the update in this newsletter from our Chapter 49 Survey Coordinator Anne Brown.

Next, under a national agreement, Indiana is putting together a group of agents to do anti-money laundering (AML) work.  How well this will work out is anybody’s guess.  Only time will tell.

You know the bad managers out there really help me appreciate the good ones.  The ones who listen to their employees (and NTEU) get so much more accomplished than the ones who think they “know everything.”  Why people skills aren’t taught and demanded of managers is something I’ll never know.

Elsewhere in this issue, Larry Lannan has a pretty good breakdown of the new tweaks to the Awards Agreement.  Suffice to say it’s getting much better and easier to understand and track.

I’m expecting meetings to come out of the new national credit card policy.  If you haven’t heard, here’s how it works—If you travel 2 or more times a year, you are expected to get a government credit card.  As a Revenue Officer summed it up in an e-mail to me, “Great, there’s another thing we have to keep track of.”  I fear this policy is not going to work out the way management is envisioning it.

Lastly, if you are not receiving mail from national NTEU and/or have moved in the last year, it is very possible NTEU does not have your correct address.  IRS doesn’t update NTEU when you let the agency know you have moved.  So, let us know!

It’s especially important right now, since this is an election year for Chapter 49.  Yep, it really is.  Our election committee chairperson is Karla Wiedekamp.  She has Bill Heath, Kathy McWilliams and Shane Yohe assisting her as members of the nominations and election committee.

That’s it for now.


LOOK FOR MORE MONEY IN
YOUR PAY IN JUNE
(MAYBE)

The National Finance Center in New Orleans has issued a statement on the additional pay raise retroactively enacted by Congress (NFC handles the IRS payroll).  Here's what the statement says.....

Based on an Executive Order signed by President Bush on March 21, 2003, a retroactive pay increase effective January 12, 2003, will be processed in pay period 10 (official pay date June 12, 2003).

There are still a number of details we don't know about this.  However, one little detail has recently come to light.  Any IRS employee with a personnel action in the first part of the year (January 12 through May 18) will have to wait "several pay periods" to see the extra money, according to the IRS Employee Resource Center. IRS says that about 70% of IRS workers will have to wait "several pay periods," meaning the June date will only apply to about 30% of IRS workers....the rest of us will have to wait "several pay periods."  We plan to keep a watchful eye on this situation and will update you when we know more.


 
NEW AWARDS PACT
ON THE WAY

NTEU National President Colleen Kelley has informed local chapter presidents that there is an agreement to fix the performance awards system.  As you may recall, there was tough bargaining when management wanted to overhaul the awards program by voiding local agreements and switching to a national awards program that resulted in competition for awards money within "pools."  This created major inequities.  Some people with average evaluation scores of 4.8 went without awards, while some with much lower scores received an award based on the level of competition within the particular "pool" where the employee was placed. 

Here are the major provisions of the new Letter of Understanding governing the next round of awards, signed on April 9th...

--the participation rate for each awards pool will be set at 55% of eligible employees within each pool

--those tied at the 55% level within a pool will be granted an award

--all those scoring a 4.6 average or higher for the critical job elements will be granted an award (you don't have to score 4.6 if you're pool allows you to receive an award, this provision only guarantees awards to people with outstanding ratings no matter how high the pool scores may be)

--a joint union-management memo describing the provisions of this letter will be distributed to all employees within 45 days of the effective date of this letter (Treasury must review and approve the letter for it to become effective)

--a system will be established to provide chapters with more information about the award pools in advance to head off any problems earlier in the process.  A Web-based system will be available for employees to allow them to check their awards status.  Employees without access to the Web-based system will be given written paper notices. 

There will be $54 million available in the overall pool in the coming awards cycle. That's a big increase compared to the $41.7 million available last time.

This Letter of Understanding only impacts the upcoming awards cycle.  NTEU will continue its efforts to move toward a more fair and less complex awards system after the next cycle is complete.  




SURVEY PROGRESS
REPORT

Former Chapter 49 Secretary and long-time Steward Anne Brown has stepped forward and volunteered to coordinate the Survey 2003 for us.    Here's Anne's first update...

The survey count was over 49,000 on Thursday, April 17, 2003.  At that time, the numbers were slightly ahead of the participation rate projected.  SB/SE is currently verifying the interest level of last year’s facilitators to return as facilitators for the 2003 ES Survey.  Based on areas of need, new facilitators may be recruited.     

Please remember that you still have the opportunity to participate in Survey 2003 until May 2, 2003.  If you need your POD or workgroup code, see your manager.  Concern has been expressed by some of our members about the demographic questions.  Management has told NTEU that this information will not be available at the local level, but if you are uncomfortable don’t answer those questions.

As in the past, taking the survey is not mandatory, but attending the survey meeting is mandatory.  While I have heard many concerns about survey not working, it is the only vehicle we currently have to express our concerns.  I encourage all of you to participate.  Your opinions count.

All of us at Chapter 49 thank Anne for taking on this time-consuming project.  We'll keep you posted when Ann has more information for us.



TAX LAW CONTRACTING:
AN UPDATE

As we have told you before, IRS is in the middle of a pre-feasibility study of our Tax Law Telephone operations.  The study is to determine whether a full-blown feasibility study on competitive sourcing (in other words, contracting out these jobs to the private sector) should be done on our toll-free telephone tax law work.  The Service is using the consulting firm of Booze Allen & Hamilton to determine private sector interest in participating in a test during the next filing season (early 2004).  

IRS has shared some of the information provided by the companies that have so far expressed interest in bidding for the chance to do this test.  Six companies have expressed such an interest.  Three of those companies had no objection to sharing their stated interest with NTEU.  Of those three companies, all have managed large call center operations.  Most have provided support for computer software and hardware companies.  Some have provided very complex networking support.  Some have contracted with government agencies such as the Census Bureau.

But there is one common thread among all these firms with potential interest in bidding for this work…..none have any experience in dealing with the tax law.  Whether any of these private operations could obtain that expertise is an open question.  We will likely know once the test for early next year is awarded and the data is assessed once the test is complete.



BIG CONTRACTING ERROR AT
DOD’S DFAS

With many in government moving full speed ahead with competitions aimed at putting our jobs up for auction to the lowest bidder, a recent story out of the Department of Defense should give us all pause.  Here is part of a Washington Post story appearing in the April 21st edition….

Bush administration officials say that forcing federal employees to compete with the private sector for their jobs always saves money. But a decision to outsource 650 positions at the Defense Department could cost taxpayers $30 million, the department's inspector general found.
Department officials two years ago awarded Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services a contract worth as much as $346 million over 10 years to process monthly payments for military retirees and spouses of deceased retirees. They did so even though federal workers could have kept doing the job for $29.9 million less than the contractor, according to an audit released last month by DOD Inspector General Joseph E. Schmitz.

A consultant hired by DOD overestimated the personnel costs of the government workers' bid, making the contractor's proposal appear to be cheaper by $1.9 million.

The disclosure of the error, missed in internal reviews and two previous audits, has fueled employee union fears that the outsourcing process is not fair, and has angered a House member who complained for more than a year that the workers' bid was improperly evaluated. The case also illustrates the difficulty of implementing a policy that sounds sensible in theory -- saving money through competition -- but can prove hard to pull off in practice.



NTEU Chapter 49 welcomes your comments, compliments or complaints, about our newsletter or Web site.  Call the union office at

317-226-6841

Or e-mail us by checking out our web site at

www.nteu49.org

                 
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