The FERS retirement system is fully funded and financially sound with no unfunded liability. Today, FERS is frequently pointed to as a model by a diverse group of pension experts for its three-legged stool structure (defined benefit, defined contribution, and Social Security), and by workforce experts for meeting workers’ job portability needs. Federal employees contribute a portion of their pay toward their retirement to achieve an average FERS pension of approximately $1500 per month, a modest retirement income.
But since 2010, Congress has used the federal retirement program to help close the federal deficit, essentially cutting the take-home pay of new employees. Federal employees have contributed $21 billion to deficit reduction through increased retirement contributions.....
Read MoreRecently the administration released its budget proposal for fiscal year (FY) 2017. For the NTEU-represented Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the proposed funding level is $8.267 billion. This is an increase of $128 million over FY 2016.....
Read MorePresident Obama’s budget recommendation for fiscal year (FY) 2017, which was formally released recently, includes an average 1.6% pay raise for both federal civilian and military personnel. The proposed 1.6% pay adjustment for General Schedule federal employees would be effective January 2017......
Read MoreOn January 6, 2016, you received an email from the administrator outlining the Agency’s response to allegations of bullying or harassment reported at EPA. The policy can be found on the Intranet. A part of the process is “Fact Finding” where employees are interviewed to furnish evidence to support or negate the allegations of bullying or harassment. If you are contacted for such an interview, please don’t participate without Union representation. These interviews can have serious repercussions to your career!....
Read MoreThe Washington Post ran an article on Sunday covering union efforts on Capitol Hill. According to the article, NTEU and the other unions are trying to get improvements in pay for federal employees and fight back attacks on worker rights.....
Read MoreThe National Labor-Management Partnership Council (Partnership Council) is an EPA organization composed of both management and union officials dedicated to the accomplishment of the Agency's missions, fostering more productive and cost effective service to the agency's customers, and improving the working conditions, career development, and morale of employees. The Partnership Council is founded on the belief that Agency employees want to be involved in decisions that affect them; that they care about their careers and are dedicated to fulfilling the missions of the agency; that they take pride in their work and contributions to protecting public health and the environment; and that they should share in the success of their efforts. The Partnership Council’s goal is that by creating an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect, open sharing of information, and recognizing and utilizing individual ideas and knowledge in innovative ways, EPA's labor unions and management can improve the agency for all employees.....
Read MoreIf you're one of those people who hates checking websites, but loves checking Facebook pages, NTEU Chapter 280 is now live on Facebook at this page.
Members will still receive our Members-Only emails of information not posted to the website, and the website will remain our primary communications tool for general information. But now you'll have another way to access much of the information posted here.
And don't forget to check out our Twitter feed as well!
Read MoreThe new NTEU telework article in our collective bargaining agreement reduces the time that new employees must wait to telework from one year (old agreement) to between 3-6 months (Article 54, Section 8), as determined by your manager. A new policy waiver allows managers to forego the waiting period altogether for episodic telework in certain situations.....
Read MoreAs you may have noticed, the rules regarding telework (used to be called "flexiplace") and snow days changed with the most recent collective bargaining agreement (CBA). When the government closes due to weather, terrorism, or other calamitous event, it's important to know the rules on whether or not you need to telework. In order to better understand the new rules, we’ve put together this question and answer document.
Read MoreFor those of you who may not visit the website and read the Chapter 280 blog regularly, we're starting a weekly summary email to members using our email partner, Mailchimp.
Read MoreFor those of you who may have been living under a rock today, I thought I’d send this short storm update.
Read MoreAs a federal employee in DC, it’s expensive to live here. In order to make the high costs more bearable, Congress increased the transit-subsidy benefit to $255.
Today we learned that our own agency is paying its Region 9 employees in San Francisco the increased benefit starting January 1, 2016 even though it’s waiting until February 1 for headquarters employees....
Read MoreDuring deliberations, NTEU worked hard to protect federal employee pay and rights and fought for adequate agency funding. The omnibus bill includes several notable items of interest to federal employees....
Read MoreThe Washington Post's Daily 202 column has a good update on the government funding discussions. Please click the "Read More" link, below, to read more....
Read MoreNever mind kicking the can down the road, there's nothing like kicking the can a few feet in front of you. Today The Senate has passed a short-term funding measure (H.R. 2250) to avert a lapse in appropriations. By voice vote, the Senate cleared the text of a House-introduced five-day Continuing Resolution (CR), which keeps the government open until Midnight, December 16.......
Read MoreNTEU received updated information from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) regarding the recent background investigations breach affecting approximately 21.5 million individuals.
OPM informed us that a DOD-run verification center is now available for any individual who has not received a notification letter but thinks they should have. This center can also assist any individual who did receive a notification letter but lost their assigned PIN number. The center can be accessed online via OPM’s cybersecurity site at https://www.opm.gov/cybersecurity or by calling 1-866-408-4555 (Mon-Fri 9am-9pm EST).....
Read MoreAs you may recall, a few weeks ago Congress passed legislation to increase sequester spending levels for domestic and defense spending for both fiscal years (FY) 2016 and 2017. The now-enacted measure also raised the debt ceiling until March 2017; however, it did not include FY16 spending funds for individual federal agencies. With current funding set to expire this Friday, Congress must act in order to prevent a government shutdown due to a lapse in appropriations.......
Read MoreToday the agency notified employees by email that new smart card readers (EPASS readers) will be installed soon, starting with the William Jefferson Clinton West building. The email notes that "some employees may experience a problem in gaining access to work space after the transition occurs."
Obviously, not being able to get into your secure office space can make you late, and that can upset your manager. If your manager comes down on you for being late when your badge fails to work, please immediately contact one of the union officers, below...
Read MoreAccording to an article in Government Executive and covered by NTEU in its e-Bulletin, "Federal employees remain significantly underpaid compared to their private sector counterparts" with "a pay gap between General Schedule employees and private sector workers of 34.92 percent."
According to the article, "the pay gap varied by locality" and job series. In San Francisco, for example, which the article noted "already receives the highest locality pay adjustment of 35 percent," "federal workers earn less than half of their private sector counterparts...."
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