July 11, 2003

CANDIDATES UNOPPOSED IN
CHAPTER ELECTION

The Chapter 49 election of officers has ended quickly with all candidates accepting nominations running unopposed.  All are automatically elected for the term beginning October  1, 2003 and ending September 31, 2005.

Here are the officers…

President        Duncan Giles
Vice President        Susan Wright
Treasurer        Marcia Loop
Secretary        Cynthia Underwood

Nominations and Elections Committee Chairperson Karla Weidekamp announced the news July 8th.
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GILES FILES
By
Duncan Giles
President
NTEU Chapter 49

On this and that…..

There will be a Chapter 49 meeting in Fort Wayne on July 23rd at the Old Country Buffet, 5507 Coldwater Road, at 5:00 PM.  We will be trying to move around the meeting locations so more members that wish to do so may attend.   An agenda will be posted on your local office bulletin board soon.  Please join us if possible.

I have met or talked with Deputy Commissioner John Dalrymple, Wage and Investment (W&I) Commissioner Henry Lamar and Small Business Self Employed (SB/SE) Commissioner Dale Hart in the last two weeks.  They were all interesting in their own way.  

With Dale Hart, two other chapter presidents and myself tried to convince her of a couple of things.  First, centralization of everything may look good on paper but in practice the problems with this approach are just beginning.  We also told her that the Exam re-engineering needs to be looked at (as it will be later this summer) as it has numerous flaws.  In addition, we again expressed the necessity of taking a look at the inventory levels for Revenue Officers since their work per case has expanded greatly since RRA ’98, but their caseloads have not decreased.  She sounded as if she hadn’t heard any of this before, which was very scary.  I hold out no great hope that any of these issues will change overnight but I will continue to bring up these types of issues at every opportunity if there is even a chance of logic breaking out.

Over in W&I, Henry Lamar (who has a good reputation from his time at the Taxpayer Advocate’s office) stated that he is committed to doing all he can for SPEC, the walk-in offices (now called Taxpayer Assistance Centers or TACs) and the Call Sites.  He was very impressed with the Indiana employees (as well he should be) and will do everything he can to support us.  Now let’s dispel the following rumors…..SPEC is not disbanding, TACs are not shutting down in Indiana and the Call Site is not closing.

With John Dalrymple, he wants to make sure in his new position that employees under him identified as A-76 possibilities (employees subject to competitive sourcing) are given every opportunity to compete on a fair playing field for their jobs.  I believed him when he said that.  Unfortunately, I don’t believe the administration feels the same way.  He may be trumped.  Only time will tell.

Lastly, we recently lost an outstanding employee and long-time steward.  Muncie LMSB Revenue Agent Janet Johnson has left the Service on disability retirement.  Janet is one of the nicest, smartest, most level-headed person it’s been my pleasure to meet.  I truly enjoyed working with her as one of the Chapter 49 stewards.  Her insight was invaluable.  Janet, you will be truly missed!

That’s it for now.



THE GAME ISN’T OVER
UNTIL IT’S OVER
By
Karen McKibben
Chief Steward
NTEU Chapter 49

Lisa Rios was hired on with IRS as a call site employee.  She had an exemplary work record.  After working at the call site for several years, she applied for and was selected as a Revenue Officer.  After her first year working as a Revenue Officer, Lisa was fired.  NTEU took up the fight for Lisa’s job. We do not believe there were sufficient reasons for her removal.   

 This is a case that has outraged NTEU and the bargaining unit as a whole.  Many employees have called Lisa and NTEU expressing their concern and support.

I’m very pleased to report that our Chicago Field Office Attorney advised me that Lisa’s case has been accepted for arbitration based on the strong merits of the case.  Simply put, that means we’re going to court.  We’re continuing to fight for Lisa’s right to work at I.R.S.  NTEU is going to play the game until it’s over.
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2004 PAY RAISE

The Congress is working in earnest on agency budgets for fiscal year 2004.  When reading articles about how our pay raise is being handled in this process, you may see a term called "pay parity"  Pay parity means about  2% in the amount of our raise.  The president has proposed a 2% average basic pay raise for the civilian federal work force in 2004, but has submitted a budget calling for a 4.1% pay hike for the armed forces.  NTEU supports the 4.1% for those in uniform.  However, in nearly every budget process in the last 20 years, Congress has followed the "pay parity" principle, meaning the civilian and military feds should get the same average pay raise.  Four key senators from Maryland and Virginia (two Republicans and two Democrats) have sent a letter to Senator Richard Shelby (Chairman of the Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury and General Government Appropriations) asking that he follow the tradition of pay parity, by including the average 4.1% pay raise for both civilian and military feds.  This is a hopeful early sign in the battle for a higher pay raise.  But the process is just beginning.  We'll let you know how this is going as the pay raise issue winds its way through the legislative process.             
 

IRS AND NTEU INK PACT ON
CHILD CARE SUBSIDIES

NTEU has reached an agreement with IRS on a child care tuition assistance program for 2003.  It's not everything we want, but funding is limited based on what Congress is giving IRS, and we plan to be back at the bargaining table soon to make this program better.

As a result of delays in the congressional budget process and other funding-related issues, the IRS is only allocating $250,000 for the program in this fiscal year. Of that amount, a portion of the funds will be directed to services provided by an outside vendor, who will be responsible for administering the terms and conditions of the our agreement.

Employees whose total family income did not exceed $45,000 last year will be eligible for monetary assistance for the period July through September, 2003. Up to $200 per month will be available to pay qualified expenses for a child from birth through 13 years of age, who is enrolled in a licensed child care facility or a properly certified home-care arrangement.

For those approved to receive this assistance, the money will be paid directly to the child care provider.  An outside vendor will be selected by IRS to evaluate the applications and determine how much each successful applicant will receive. Since IRS has yet to select the vendor, nobody can begin applying for assistance yet.  But NTEU will let you know once the applications are being accepted.  


VOLUNTEER TIME AND
THE NATIONAL AGREEMENT

One of the most exciting employee gains in the IRS-NTEU National Agreement allows 8 hours of administrative leave per year to do volunteer work in the local community. Unfortunately, management tried its best to back out of that contract provision by unreasonably limiting its scope to IRS volunteer programs like VITA and TCE. NTEU has been fighting that management position from the very beginning.  IRS and NTEU will soon enter into an arbitration over this issue.  The arbitration hearing has not yet been scheduled, but it should be happening soon.  If NTEU is able to obtain a favorable ruling from the arbitrator, then IRS employees can begin to use this excellent contract provision.  We will keep you posted.  

Keep up with the latest from our Internet Web site  -  www.nteu49.org