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American Federation of Government Employees Local 12, AFL-CIO
June 30, 2010
Secretary Hilda Solis United States Department of Labor 200 Constitution Avenue NW Washington, DC
RE: Increase of metro Bus and Rail Fares
Dear Secretary Solis:
As you may be aware the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro) recently raised their fares for bus and rail by almost twenty percent this past Sunday the 27th; the largest increase in the history of Metro. The employees of the national office of the United States Department of Labor are dependent on the Metro system for transportation to and from their offices. We are therefore asking for a twenty percent increase in transit subsidy to cover the costs of the increased price of transportation to DOL.
The recent tragedy in the Gulf underscores the importance of improving the use of public transportation in order to reduce the carbon foot print of each individual employee. In addition, we must rely upon public transportation to reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil which unfortunately has become the dominant national security issue. The members of Local 12 stand ready to do their part to conserve energy and reduce the burden on our planet.
Madam Secretary, we do not request this increase in the transit subsidy out of self-indulgence but because of our concern for the environment and to further your agenda on creating more “green” jobs. We will not succeed in creating a better future for our children if employees feel greater economic pressure to abandon public transportation for more single rider cars on the already over congested streets of our nation’s capital.
We appreciate your time in addressing this issue and hope that this issue can be resolved in the best interests of the employees of the national office of the Department of Labor, the residents of Washington D.C. Metropolitan area, and our nation’s energy and environmental concerns.
Sincerely,
Alex Bastani President AFGE Local 12
200 Constitution Avenue, NW, N-1503, Washington, DC 20210, 202/693-6430, 202/693-6431(fax) |
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American Federation of Government Employees Local 12, AFL-CIO
July 13, 2010 Hilda Solis Secretary United States Department of Labor 200 Constitution Avenue NW Washington D.C. 20210
RE: GAO Report Regarding Conversion of Employees From Political to Career Positions
Dear Secretary Solis:
I am writing to you with respect to the recent report issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in June of this year regarding the Conversion of Employees from the Political to Career Positions from May of 2005 to May of 2009. As you know, this report states that six individuals who were political appointees of President Bush in the Department of Labor were converted into career positions. On behalf of the 3,100 bargaining unit employees represented by AFGE Local 12, we are very concerned as to why these individuals are still employed at the United States Department of Labor.
The issue of patronage is a deeply serious issue within American government. Since the passage of the Pendleton Act of 1883, the law of the Nation is that when a political appointee’s term of office is completed, he/she must return to the private sector. It is a violation not only of the civil service system but of our Nation’s democratic process to allow political appointees to occupy non-partisan civil service positions once their term of office has expired. When President Obama was a candidate for office he promised a higher level of accountability from our government; that must start with the enforcement of the law on the books not to politicize our nation’s civil service system.
On July 8, 2010, you wrote to the members of our Union, on the behalf of the President of the United States, seeking ideas from our members in order to save money for the taxpayer. The enforcement of our nation’s civil service laws would be a good first step in that direction. The six Bush-era appointees mentioned in the GAO report of June 2010 have been paid for over thirty-eight thousand (38,000) hours of work since their appointments were converted into their civil service positions, including almost eighteen thousand (18,000) hours since President Obama took office.
Therefore, we request that these six individuals be relieved of the civil service positions that they were not eligible for in the first instance — nor were ever qualified for — so that qualified civil servants can perform these duties without partisanship or any waste, fraud, or abuse of the taxpayers’ money.
We also expect that when the Obama administration leaves office in January of 2017, it will not abuse our nation’s civil service system as the Bush administration has.
Sincerely,
Alex Bastani President AFGE Local 12
200 Constitution Avenue, NW, N-1503, Washington, DC 20210, 202/693-6430, 202/693-6431(fax)
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American Federation of Government Employees Local 12, AFL-CIO
July 28, 2010 Hilda Solis Secretary United States Department of Labor 200 Constitution Avenue NW Washington D.C. 20210
RE: July 20, 2010 Memorandum Regarding 2010 Fiscal Year Bonuses
Dear Secretary Solis:
We are writing to you with respect to your July 20, 2010 memorandum directed to Agency Heads concerning the Performance Bonus Pool for Fiscal Year 2010. First, on the behalf of the bargaining unit members of AFGE Local 12, we want to thank you for publicly acknowledging the excellent work performed by DOL employees during this past year. We certainly agree with your statement that “DOL employees have achieved significant accomplishments in a number of key areas in a remarkably short period of time, all of which have made a real difference in the lives of working families.” Our members are appreciative of a Secretary of Labor who allows the employees here to perform the work that they were hired to do in protecting America’s working families. However, in view of your respect for your front-line workers, Local 12 is baffled by the remainder of your letter.
You have decided that the members of the Senior Executive Service at the Department of Labor will receive a bonus pool equivalent to 8.3 percent of their aggregate pay while the bonus pool for general schedule, non-managerial employees will be 2.3 percent of their aggregate pay. We assume that your decision reflects a belief that the members of the Senior Executive Service contributed three times as much as the bargaining unit employees to the success of the Department of Labor during the past fiscal year. If this is your assumption, Local 12 must strenuously disagree with your position. If anything the bargaining unit employees have contributed three times as much to the success of this Department as have the members of the Senior Executive Service. The bargaining unit employees are the ones who actually perform all of the tasks that keep the Department operational. The policies and/or procedures set in place by the Senior Executive Service would be meaningless unless brought to fruition by the general schedule, bargaining unit employees.
We are also concerned about the disparity in the bonus pools because at the same time general schedule employees are getting almost seventy-five percent less bonus, Congress is contemplating one of the lowest costs of living increases in twenty years. While the members of the Senior Executive Service are well positioned to ride out the rest of the deepest recession since the Great Depression, many of the general schedule employees are not similarly situated.
You have shown great leadership in the last year and a half in reviving the spirits of Frances Perkins, Cesar Chavez, and Mother Jones here at the Department of Labor. What do you think these great advocates for working Americans would say about a bonus pool that yells out “inequity?”
On behalf of all of the bargaining unit employees of the Department of Labor, we ask that you reconsider this inequitable bonus allocation and that you put forth a program that reflects the ideals of labor and of the Obama Administration.
Thank you for reconsidering your decision.
Sincerely,
Alex Bastani President AFGE Local 12 200 Constitution Avenue, NW, N-1503, Washington, DC 20210, 202/693-6430, 202/693-6431(fax)
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