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Vol.
III, No. 9, June 2002
Union
Calls June 26 Rally for $100 Transit Subsidy
In the face of the continuing refusal by DOL management
to raise the maximum monthly transit subsidy from $65
to $100 for employees in the Washington DC metropolitan
area, AFGE 12 is organizing a mass rally for June 26.
The rally will call on Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao
to immediately raise the transit subsidy to $100 a month.
“We
invite all DOL employees, including managers, to join
us on Wednesday, June 26 at 12:00 noon on Constitution
Avenue in front of the Frances Perkins Building,”
declared Larry Drake, AFGE 12 President. “The crises
of traffic congestion and air pollution in this region
cry out for action,” he continued. “It’s
a shame that DOL management is not doing its part to
contribute to a solution by raising the transit subsidy
to the maximum allowed by law, namely, $100 a month,”
he emphasized.
Executive
Order (E.O.) 13150, Federal Workforce Transportation,
requires “Federal Agencies in the National Capital
Region” to have transit subsidy programs for their
employees and to set the subsidy at the maximum amount.
Issued by President Clinton in the spring of 2000, the
Executive Order is still in effect. In January of this
year, many Federal agencies raised their transit subsidies
from $65 a month to $100 in keeping with the governing
law. DOL’s refusal to raise the transit subsidy
for employees in this region places the Department in
open defiance of a Presidential order.
DOL
Employees in Field to Receive $100 Transit Subsidy
According to the Spring 2002 LABOR EXCHANGE, DOL bargaining
unit employees outside of the Washington DC metropolitan
area will begin receiving the $100 transit subsidy on
July 1, as a result of the new Collective Bargaining
Agreement negotiated by the National Council of Field
Labor Locals (NCFLL) and Departmental management. “We
congratulate our brothers and sisters in the NCFLL for
making the $100 transit subsidy part of their contract,”
said AFGE 12 President Drake. “This is important
because the Executive Order can be rescinded at any
time; having this provision in their contract guarantees
that the $100 transit subsidy will remain, regardless
of what happens to the Executive Order,” he noted.
Inquiring
minds want to know: If DOL employees in the field are
getting the $100 transit subsidy, why aren’t DOL
employees in the Nation’s Capital getting it too?
LABOR
EXCHANGE Coverup?
Speaking of the LABOR EXCHANGE, an alert Union member
noticed the following. In the hard copy version of the
Spring 2002 LABOR EXCHANGE, the article on page 4 entitled
“DOL and NCFLL Reach Agreement” says, “In
addition the parties enhanced the Instant Good Job Awards
and increased transit subsidies from $65 to $100 per
month.” However, on the Labornet, the electronic
version of that same publication omits that sentence.
The
Union finds this odd. Could it be that DOL management
doesn’t want employees in headquarters to know
that their counterparts in the field are getting the
$100 transit subsidy?
Many
Federal Agencies Offer $100 Transit Subsidy
Based on research by AFGE 12 members, we are listing
below some–but by no means all–of the Federal
agencies that have complied with Executive Order 13150
and now offer a $100 transit subsidy to their employees.
DOL employees in the Washington area may wonder: Why
aren’t we getting the $100 transit subsidy like
our counterparts in other Federal agencies?
Department
of Defense; Department of Education; Department of Housing
and Urban Development; Department of State; Department
of Transportation; Department of Veterans Affairs; Office
of Personnel Management; Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission; Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; Federal
Bureau of Investigation; Federal Communications Commission;
Federal Election Commission; Federal Mediation and Conciliation
Service; Mine Safety and Health Review Commission; International
Trade Commission; National Aeronautics and Space Administration;
Selective Service System; Metropolitan Washington Airports
Authority; Agency for International Development; Bureau
of
the Census; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration;
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
Secretary
Chao Increases Bonuses for Senior Executives
The Washington Post reports (Feb. 12, 2002, p. B2) that
Secretary Chao has increased the amount of money that
Senior Executives in the Department will receive as
bonuses. “Chao, in a bid to stress the importance
of job performance and program results, increased the
bonus pool for senior executives from 5 percent of their
total salaries to 7.5 percent.” The article goes
on to quote Patrick Pizzella, Assistant Secretary for
Administration and Management, as saying “I don’t
know of any departments higher than that.”
It
is interesting to note that the Senior Executives, who
have private individual parking spaces in DOL garages,
are getting bigger bonuses while bargaining unit employees
who take mass transit are denied the increase in transit
subsidy required by the Executive Order. Is that fair?
New
Studies Confirm Link Between Air Pollution and Disease
Two major new studies (in the February 2, 2002 issue
of The Lancet and in the March 6, 2002 issue of the
Journal of the American Medical Association) have confirmed
that there is a link between air pollution and asthma,
lung cancer, and other diseases. In fact, scientists
say air pollution can have similar effects on our lungs
as second-hand cigarette smoke.
In
light of this unsettling news, it makes you wonder why
Departmental management resists raising the transit
subsidy to the maximum extent possible, as a way to
reduce air pollution in this area. Is this the action
of a truly “family friendly” Department?
Support
the Union!
AFGE 12 has been fighting since 1991 to get a good transit
subsidy for the employees it represents, facing resistance
from management all the way. It hasn’t mattered
which political party has controlled the White House:
the Union has had to battle management under President
George H.W. Bush, President William J. Clinton, and
now President George W. Bush.
Negotiations
between AFGE 12 and Departmental management on this
matter began in 1992. Due to management’s intransigence,
it wasn’t until 1997 that there was any transit
subsidy at all: AFGE 12 was able to negotiate a $50
a month subsidy in April of that year under Acting Secretary
Cynthia Metzler. When Clinton issued E.O. 13150, Secretary
Alexis Herman complied and raised the subsidy to $65
a month (Herman and past Union President Russ Binion
signed a Memorandum of Understanding on January 11,
2001 that made the $65 subsidy part of the contract
between Union and management).
The simple fact of the matter is that the more members
the Union has, the more clout it has at the bargaining
table. If you are not yet a member of the Union, please
sign up today and help us win the $100 transit subsidy
and the other improvements that employees need, like
the child care subsidy program and the student loan
repayment program.
Any
employee joining the Local will receive a rebate of
$50, and any member recruiting a new member will get
a $50 bonus. In addition, while supplies last, any new
member and any recruiter each will also get two free
tickets to the Baltimore Orioles-Philadelphia Phillies
baseball game at Camden Yards the evening of Friday,
June 28. Everyone benefits when Union membership grows!
Rally
for
$100 Transit Subsidy
Wednesday
June 26, 2002
12:00 Noon
Frances Perkins Building
200 Constitution Ave., NW
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