Government Executive U.S. Army veteran Gene Moy, 103, left, of Seattle prepares to get the second shot of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021, from Levone Walton, right, a nurse at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System campus in Seattle. Ted S. Warren / AP Get the latest on need-to-know topics for federal employees delivered to your inbox.
email House Panel Advances Legislation to Expand VA Medical Employee Bargaining Rights
The VA Employee Fairness Act would grant medical professionals the right to bargain over scheduling and official time, and to file grievances over pay disputes.
The House Veterans Affairs Committee on Tuesday voted 17-11 to advance legislation that would expand the collective bargaining rights of medical professionals at the Veterans Affairs Department, allowing them to negotiate over issues related to patient care and clinical competencies.
Bishop, a North Carolina Republican, has filed the
Do Your Job Act, which would stop union officials from being paid while conducting union business.
The National Right to Work Committee said federal workers unions used more than 2.6 million hours of official time for union activity in 2019, costing taxpayers more than $163 million in payroll and other costs. The abusive practice of allowing union work to occur on official time wastes millions of taxpayer dollars every year, as federal employees use paid time off to perform official union duties, Bishop said.
The policy was established in 1978 through the Civil Service Reform Act. It allows federal workers unions to use paid hours for lobbying for more benefits or higher pay or to perform other union functions.
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A weekly roundup of pay and benefits news.
A Democratic senator on Wednesday formally introduced a bill that would provide an average 3.2% pay raise to civilian federal employees in 2022, mirroring legislation already under consideration in the House.
The Federal Adjustment of Income Rates Act by Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, would provide federal workers with a 2.2% across-the-board pay increase next year, along with an average 1% increase in locality pay. Companion legislation was introduced by Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., in the House in January.
In 2021, federal employees received a 1% across-the-board pay raise after Congress declined to override former President Trump’s alternative pay plan. That increase did not include a change in locality pay rates.
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email Biden Signs Executive Order Killing Schedule F, Restoring Collective Bargaining Rights
The president also named Federal Labor Relations Authority Member Ernest DuBester to serve as the agency’s chairman.
Fulfilling a campaign promise, President Biden signed an executive order Friday afternoon rescinding a series of orders issued by former President Trump aimed at gutting federal employee unions and stripping federal workers of their civil service protections.
The Trump administration was aggressive in its approach to the federal workforce, and labor groups in particular. In 2018, Trump signed a series of executive orders seeking to make it easier to fire federal workers, streamline labor-management negotiations and restrict the scope of collective bargaining, and severely restricting the use of official time.