Perpetrating SSA Manager Flees Jurisdiction
Several years of diligent work and intensive legal procedures paid off on February 6 2007 when the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) in Washington DC issused a Review decision in favor of AFGE Local 4056. The Kissimmee Florica District Office is and has since its inception beeen part of AFGE Logal 4056. At the time of the hearing there were 35 employees of the Kissimmee Office who were eligible to be included in the bargaining unit.
In order to alleviate the egregious adverse working environment in the Kissimmee DO that resulted from the Agency's illegal refusal to recognize Union representation, AFGE Local 4056 filed a complaint with the FLRA and we prevailed. Now the Union is taking action to improve the worklife of the bargaining unit employees in the Kissimmee DO, The Agency had fought the Union's right to represent emloyees in Kissimmee since April 18, 2005 when the office opened to serve the booming population in the Osceola County area south of Orlando. The Kissimmee District was actually created in 2002 but did not actually open to the public with staff on site until 2005.
Many of the employees of the Kissimmee office originally came from the Orlando SSA District Office from the New York, Boston, Chicago and Atlanta regions where Union representation is present. The Agency had tried to keep Kissimmee without representation, citing it as being comparable to the stand-alone military facility the Port Hueneme California Naval Fcilities Service Center. That Center was considered to be essentially a new entity with no prior history, so no rights typically afforded to other Centers "carried over" to this new Center.
The FLRA recognized tht the Kissimmee Florida District Office was created from the existing Orlando office and any employees from Orlando volunteered to staff Kissimmee. These employees were predominately Union members, and their rights as members were not forfeited when they moved to Kissimmee.
The Agency had insisted on an election being held to determine if employees of Kissimmee wanted to have Union representation in their office. The FLRA decision found that because the Kissimmee Office is part of SSA as an agency and not a separate entity because it has the same mission with transferred employees performing the same duties and functions as they did in their old offices. The decision granted the Kissimmee District Office status as a Union Office retroactive to its creation.
Jose Jiminez has been appointed as the on-ste Union Representative and Shop Steward. Jose brings a tremendous depth of experience and soaring ethical and moral foundation to the position and has the complete confidence and support of the AFGE Local 4056 President and Executive Board.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
CURRENT NEWS
In the Orlando FL District Office individuals have been questioned concerning requests for Annual or Sick leave. There have been calls made to people at home on sick leave to make certain they were at home. Another employee had a medical test scheduled, and management refused to grant her the 8 hours requested for the test. The manager told the employee that management felt the procedure would only take 4 hours to complete, so she had to take annual or credit leave to supplement the 4 hours Sick Leave they'd grant if she still wanted 8 hours of leave. None of the managers have medical degrees, but that is beside the point.
It's not inconceivable that this issue will take place in other office, so make sure all employees know their rights regarding use of leave.
Annual and Sick leave is earned to be used as needed. Leave is requested on the SSA-71 form.
Please review the form and note the options in Section 5. Choices are :Annual Leave, Sick Leave, Leave Without Pay, Sick Compensatory Time, or Other. You make a choice, check the proper box, and turn the form in to a member of management.
Section 6 allows for remarks, but none are required.
If you are requesting Sick Leave, the back of the form has additional choices. Section 1 states "I was incapacitated for duty by: Sickness, On-The-Job-Injury,Off-The-Job-Injury,Pregnancy and Confinement."
Typically, one of the above choices handles most situations. Section 2 has an additional choice, "I was required to care for a member of my family with a contagious disease. (Give name and relationship of family member, and name of disease.)"
Section 3 states simply "I will be undergoing medical, dental or optical examination or treatment." It has no requirement that you provide the name of the procedure you are to undergo, the duration of the procedure and recovery time, the travel time involved. Nowhere on the SSA-71 is this information required, nor are you under any requirement to divulge this information to anyone.
Section 4 states "I was exposed to a contagious disease. (Give name of disease and circumstances of exposure.)"
Note again, that sections 2 and 4 dealing with exposures to contagious disease are the only sections requiring an employee to provide any explanation of their illness or absence from work beyond the initial request, made by checking the correct box on the form.
The form is not meant to release any information other than the time you are requesting off and the category of leave you are requesting.
Management's role in the process is to either approve or disapprove leave. See the section on the form entitled "Official Action On Application."
There is no conditional approval. Leave is either approved or denied, not approved based on someone's interpretation of how long a procedure should last. Leave approval or denial is not negotiable by management, as in "I'll approve 4 hours for that procedure, but not 8 because I think the Doctor can handle it in 4 hours."
Should any employee who is not on leave restriction be questioned by management about use of sick leave, or how long a procedure will last, or what the procedure is or what the leave is going to be used for they need to ask to speak to their Union Representative immediately.
If someone is told that they'll be granted fewer hours of leave than requested because the questioner feels it should take less time than requested to accomplish the test, procedure or purpose of the leave, again, you must ask to speak to their Union Representative immediately.
Use of leave is personal and confidential so please consider this before you divulge anything about your leave request, even to a member of management.
If you have further questions about this issue, please feel free to contact the Executive Board using the email form at the bottom of this page.
It's not inconceivable that this issue will take place in other office, so make sure all employees know their rights regarding use of leave.
Annual and Sick leave is earned to be used as needed. Leave is requested on the SSA-71 form.
Please review the form and note the options in Section 5. Choices are :Annual Leave, Sick Leave, Leave Without Pay, Sick Compensatory Time, or Other. You make a choice, check the proper box, and turn the form in to a member of management.
Section 6 allows for remarks, but none are required.
If you are requesting Sick Leave, the back of the form has additional choices. Section 1 states "I was incapacitated for duty by: Sickness, On-The-Job-Injury,Off-The-Job-Injury,Pregnancy and Confinement."
Typically, one of the above choices handles most situations. Section 2 has an additional choice, "I was required to care for a member of my family with a contagious disease. (Give name and relationship of family member, and name of disease.)"
Section 3 states simply "I will be undergoing medical, dental or optical examination or treatment." It has no requirement that you provide the name of the procedure you are to undergo, the duration of the procedure and recovery time, the travel time involved. Nowhere on the SSA-71 is this information required, nor are you under any requirement to divulge this information to anyone.
Section 4 states "I was exposed to a contagious disease. (Give name of disease and circumstances of exposure.)"
Note again, that sections 2 and 4 dealing with exposures to contagious disease are the only sections requiring an employee to provide any explanation of their illness or absence from work beyond the initial request, made by checking the correct box on the form.
The form is not meant to release any information other than the time you are requesting off and the category of leave you are requesting.
Management's role in the process is to either approve or disapprove leave. See the section on the form entitled "Official Action On Application."
There is no conditional approval. Leave is either approved or denied, not approved based on someone's interpretation of how long a procedure should last. Leave approval or denial is not negotiable by management, as in "I'll approve 4 hours for that procedure, but not 8 because I think the Doctor can handle it in 4 hours."
Should any employee who is not on leave restriction be questioned by management about use of sick leave, or how long a procedure will last, or what the procedure is or what the leave is going to be used for they need to ask to speak to their Union Representative immediately.
If someone is told that they'll be granted fewer hours of leave than requested because the questioner feels it should take less time than requested to accomplish the test, procedure or purpose of the leave, again, you must ask to speak to their Union Representative immediately.
Use of leave is personal and confidential so please consider this before you divulge anything about your leave request, even to a member of management.
If you have further questions about this issue, please feel free to contact the Executive Board using the email form at the bottom of this page.
PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT
President's Statement
This is the first President's Message for the AFGE Local 4056 Website.
Article 26 of the New Contract is now being unilaterally implemented by SSA Management and meetings are scheduled to present talking points to the bargaining unit.
This Article details changes in the merit promotion process that generally increase the amount of discretion and subjectivity used by a selecting official. Priority Consideration is diminished in its impact by increasing the ability of management to overcome its mandate.
Issues such as area of consideration, removal of the limits to selective interviewing, size of the well qualified list, and the assessment process all provide far greater discretionary power to the selecting official. The result is far less accountability to the bargaining unit.
Article 26 is predicated on a multi tier appraisal system that has yet to be implemented. This results in conflicts between the current Article 21 and the new Article 26.
I will continue to keep you informed of important issues as they arise.
James A. Richardson
President Local 4056
This is the first President's Message for the AFGE Local 4056 Website.
Article 26 of the New Contract is now being unilaterally implemented by SSA Management and meetings are scheduled to present talking points to the bargaining unit.
This Article details changes in the merit promotion process that generally increase the amount of discretion and subjectivity used by a selecting official. Priority Consideration is diminished in its impact by increasing the ability of management to overcome its mandate.
Issues such as area of consideration, removal of the limits to selective interviewing, size of the well qualified list, and the assessment process all provide far greater discretionary power to the selecting official. The result is far less accountability to the bargaining unit.
Article 26 is predicated on a multi tier appraisal system that has yet to be implemented. This results in conflicts between the current Article 21 and the new Article 26.
I will continue to keep you informed of important issues as they arise.
James A. Richardson
President Local 4056
Annual Membership Meeting Saturday March 31 2007
Welcome to Local 4056 Online
This is Local 4056's own website where you will find news, helpful information and organizational links.
We hope you will visit often.
Our goal is to update the site frequently and keep the information current.
It's your website too, so share any information that you feel would benefit other Local members.
You can contact the Exective Board by typing your message in the box at the bottom of the page. This is the first step in creating a better flow of communications between Local members, and we hope you'll find it informative.
This is Local 4056's own website where you will find news, helpful information and organizational links.
We hope you will visit often.
Our goal is to update the site frequently and keep the information current.
It's your website too, so share any information that you feel would benefit other Local members.
You can contact the Exective Board by typing your message in the box at the bottom of the page. This is the first step in creating a better flow of communications between Local members, and we hope you'll find it informative.
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