Congress must the rights of union workers

Robin Johnson 

MARCH 19, 2017

With all the problems facing our nation today, Congress has decided it needs to attack the federal workforce with arbitrary cuts and loss of rights.

Please contact U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik and tell her to vote against H.R. 1364, H.R. 1259 and H.R. 1461. These bills take away rights of federal employees to be represented, steal union reps’ pensions and make it impossible for unions to stand up for federal employees and the public they serve.

These bills individually and collectively and directly attack the ability of federal employees to have unions and totally disregard rights and responsibilities under 5 USC Chapter 71, the Labor Relations Statute. Congress apparently considers the rights of the federal workforce not only disposable but intolerable. We are Americans serving America. We are patriots. We deserve better.

Government should be a model employer, not eradicate the rights of its workforce. From experience, I know that being a full-time union rep costs an employee overtime assignments and promotion opportunities. It’s a sacrifice made for the opportunity to contribute more to the success of one’s agency and country.

It’s incredible that Congress would even consider punishing employee representatives by, for example, docking their pensions for using more than a small amount of time for representation. To do so is to say that the union’s function contributes no value to the government. I know from experience this is untrue and that many good, productive employees would not have a career today if this had been the case when they needed their union.

These bills create a situation where employees who step up to oppose the actions of managers who take unfounded actions against employees or mismanage the agency do so at further cost to their careers and, ironically, the perpetrators are left untouched.

To those who say, “Oh, they can still have unions, just on their own time,” I say they know that is a false assertion. When a supervisor takes a disciplinary action, will they meet with the union during off-duty time? No. When they change working conditions, will they meet their legal bargaining requirements on non-duty time? No.

And so on. Many responsibilities of union representatives are not done on duty time. But to say that representational functions they are bound by law to fulfill cannot be done in their role as federal employees, on the clock as intended, is nothing but union busting.

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Unions are now little more than leftist political organizations, operating under the false flag of employment rights. No one should be forced to pay unions for the right to work. If union workers could see below the surface to the political chicanery and to the games played with their money there'd be open revolt. The union leaders are selling fear and the rank and file are buying it.

Guess will John Samuelsen and his team volunteer their services for a $1 a year salary?