Get the bulletin board-ready story, here.
Earlier this month, on an almost exclusively party-line vote, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R.4361, despite deep opposition from NFFE and our allies on Capitol Hill. While supporters of this bill touted gimmicky provisions such as a moratorium of federal employees viewing porn on government computers, the vast majority of the bill was made up of arbitrary and punitive attacks on the due process rights of federal employees. With the legislation making it through the anti-worker House of Representatives, our fight turns to the Senate.
As we continue to defend against the ever-rising wave of Congressional attacks on the working men and women of the federal workforce, opponents are getting increasingly aggressive in their attacks on federal employee due process protections. Provisions like arbitrarily extending probationary periods, which have no demonstrated effect on performance outcomes, are repeatedly popping up in numerous pieces of legislation. More damaging, though, are provisions like the expedited firing process applied to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Senior Executive Service for federal employees that Congress has repeatedly attempted to apply to VA rank-and-file, and the rest of the federal workforce through H.R. 4361.
Recently, the VA announced it would no longer adhere to the expedited firing procedures prescribed by Congress to those in the Senior Executive Service following constitutional questions raised by the Department of Justice (DoJ). Despite the warnings from the DoJ regarding the constitutionality of gutting federal employee due process rights, extremists in Congress are coming back for another bite at the anti-worker apple with recently-introduced legislation stripping VA employees of their due process rights.
Congress has repeatedly demonstrated their blatant disregard for the Constitution as it applies to federal employees, and it is up to us to stop them. We must stand in Union to stop these repeated and baseless attacks on the federal workforce. United, we will win. It is on us to contact our members of Congress and tell them our stories, and how cuts in pay, pensions and due process protections negatively affects our lives.
Get more information on contact your member of Congress, here.
“Proposals to expedite discipline and extend probationary periods for federal workers have nothing to do with seeking good government,” said NFFE National President William R. Dougan. “These proposals are about making workers feel vulnerable and laying the foundation for eliminating Unions in the federal government. Anti-federal worker lawmakers have shown they will push legislation to eliminate rights for federal executives today, and they will propose eliminating the same rights for all federal workers tomorrow. NFFE will not stand for the whittling away of critical employee protections. We will fight this legislation tooth and nail.”
NFFE-IAM members with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) during Legislative Conference
Get the bulletin board-ready story, here.