AFGE Activist, -- did you see this important note from President Cox? We only have until NEXT MONDAY to submit our comments and protect our union rights.
AFGE Activist,
In the latest attack on the rights of federal workers, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has asked the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) to issue a policy statement that would undermine union security.
AFGE needs you to act by submitting comments opposing this attempt to destroy the union. Any person may submit comments to the FLRA. To assist you in drafting your comments, we have created a template that will be emailed directly to the FLRA.
Click here to load the draft comment below into an email to the FLRA. You can also copy and paste the text below into an email. Be sure to use the sender email address and subject line shown below. Only comments sent with to this email address and subject line will be counted.
Or copy and paste the information below into an email:
To: [email protected]
Subject: Office of Personnel Management (Petitioner), Case No. 0-PS-34
I oppose the FLRA overturning 40 years of precedent by making the policy statement requested by OPM. The request by OPM is a thinly veiled attempt to continue the assault against workers and their unions.
The Supreme Court’s decision in Janus v. AFSCME provides no basis for OPM or the FLRA to interfere with an employee’s voluntary deduction of union dues or long-standing, collectively bargained agreements that implement those dues deductions in accordance with the Statute. There are no agency fees in the federal sector. Membership is voluntary. So, far from justifying any change in the federal sector, Janus looked to the federal system as a model and distinguished it from the system at issue in that case.
The FLRA should not be a pawn of the anti-union motivations of OPM in an attempt to stifle the rights of federal employees and the unions that they choose to join. It would also be wrong for the FLRA to depart from long-established case precedent that applies the Statute and respects Congressional intent by issuing what would in truth be a new rule and new precedent, and not policy guidance, without the benefit of a specific, fact-based case. The FLRA should deny OPM’s request.
[Signed with your name.}
You may also mail or hand deliver your comments using the information below:
Mail and hand delivery go to:
Emily Sloop, Chief
Case Intake and Publication
Federal Labor Relations Authority, Docket Room
1400 K Street, NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20424-0001
Comments must be received by the FLRA no later than Monday, August 12, 2019.
Here's more information about this important issue.
The FLRA has always held that union membership in the federal sector is for a one year period. Since the statute governing federal sector labor relations was passed in 1979, employees have had the opportunity to join the union at any time they wish and stop their membership every year during a period of time agreed upon by the union and the agency where the employee works.
OPM is now seeking to interfere with these negotiated agreements between the union and the employing agency by citing to a recent Supreme Court case [ Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, 138 S. Ct. 2448 (2018)] and claiming that this case (which had nothing to do with federal employees) should override the negotiated agreements between the union and the employing agency.
OPM’s intention is to undermine union security by claiming that the Janus case should mean that employees may leave the union at any time after an initial one year period. This claim is contrary to the law—the FLRA specifically rejected this interpretation of the law in a case decision in 1981. Clearly, this move by OPM to change 40 years of precedent is an attack against unions and has political motivations that are designed to eliminate unions in the federal government at a time when the work of many agencies are under unprecedented attack.
Your action on this important issue can help save the security of our union. Join me in submitting a comment today!
In Solidarity,
J. David Cox Sr.
AFGE National President
