The Awards Fight Goes On "In my last message, I promised to update you on new developments in the awards case. Late last week, the fact-finder brought in to hear the case issued an unfavorable recommendation. NTEU made the case to the fact-finder that since management received awards this fiscal year, employees should be paid their awards as well. In making his recommendation, the fact-finder accepted the IRS’ claim that frontline employees are paid awards for performance in the same year as the performance is rendered, while managers are paid awards for their previous year’s performance. Since a satisfactory outcome could not be reached in that arena, NTEU has now petitioned the Federal Service Impasses Panel (FSIP) to help the parties reach a resolution. FSIP is a federal agency that has the power to impose contract terms on the parties when they cannot agree. NTEU is exercising all its options to fight for the awards you earned and deserve." How We Got Here "This fight has been a long and complex process. How did we get to this latest point? In 2012, IRS leaders tried to reduce the amount of money spent on the NTEU-IRS Negotiated Performance Awards program and NTEU stopped them. As a result, frontline employees received more than $70 million in awards in September 2012. When management proposed in March 2013 to remove all funding from the awards program and redirect the money to other priorities, NTEU put on the gloves once again and went back into the ring to fight for union members. The first round of activity took place at the bargaining table where NTEU chapter presidents from Wisconsin, New Jersey, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania teamed up to demand justification from management for cutting the awards and make our arguments for upholding the contract and paying the awards. When that failed, the NTEU negotiators reached an oral agreement as part of a multi-issue package addressing furloughs and awards. Management negotiators agreed to pay out 90 percent of the funds set aside for awards. But when that became public, management disavowed that deal. NTEU filed an unfair labor practice (ULP) charge with the Federal Labor Relations Authority to enforce compliance with the deal. Meanwhile, management insisted on presenting the bargaining dispute to a labor relations fact-finder for his recommendation. Recommendations from outside labor relations neutrals often lead to a final deal, but did not this time. In addition to the FSIP petition and the ULP charge alleging that the agency violated the law during negotiations, NTEU will soon file a grievance on behalf of all employees to enforce what it believes is your contractual entitlement to awards in 2013. In other words, we have a lot of irons in the fire. NTEU continues to urge the IRS to honor its moral obligation and do the right thing by employees. NTEU believes you earned and deserve these incentive awards and that the IRS is making a grave and shortsighted error in eliminating the 2013 awards, and spending the money elsewhere. Your pay has been frozen and you have been forced to serve furlough days. These actions are already having a serious impact on morale. The IRS cites costs and sequestration cuts for not paying awards. But there are affects associated with the non-payment of awards beyond the costs of the awards alone that will have a lingering negative impact. As this fight reaches its final rounds, NTEU intends to keep swinging on behalf of its members until the final bell rings. I have often said that NTEU cannot guarantee a win, but we can and will guarantee an all-out fight on behalf of the rights of those we represent. Thank you for your support and for your service to our country." - Colleen M. Kelley
Posted on: Thu, 29 Aug 2013 20:40:17 +0000
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