John,
It was another exciting week to be a member of AFGE, with a number of important things happening. Here are a few of the top items you need to know at the end of the week.
Telework Survey, New CDC Guidance, and Return to Work
All of you should have received an email this week asking you to take a survey on the topic of telework. While we estimate about half of our members have continued to work at their regular duty station throughout the pandemic because their jobs are not appropriate for telework, we believe most of the other half have continued working but have done so remotely thanks to telework.
Throughout the pandemic, we pushed for maximum telework in order to protect the health and safety of not only federal workers, but also of the public at large.
Yesterday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that it was safe for fully-vaccinated people to gather indoors (with certain conditions) and outdoors without masks or social distancing. Of course, there are still exceptions to this new general rule -- everyone is still supposed to wear a mask and stay distant inside hospitals, doctors’ offices, nursing homes, and when on a bus, train or plane. Prisons are another exception.
At mid-week this week, 154 million Americans had gotten at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and about 117 million were fully vaccinated. And on Tuesday, the Pfizer vaccine was approved for adolescents aged 12 to 15. Slowly but surely, it’s starting to look like a return to “normal” will occur in the not-too-distant future. But the question remains: When will it be safe to go back to the office and do people want pre-pandemic work schedules?
We want to make sure that the views of AFGE members are front-and-center in all discussions and plans for return to federal offices. As it is sometimes said, “don’t make plans about us without us!” We will need to discuss and bargain over new schedules, new health and safety protocols and conditions, new expectations of productivity and much more. After all, President Biden’s Executive Order 14003 gave us the right to bargain over “permissive subjects,” and the return to the office will be a good place to start. So please fill out your survey if you haven’t done so already. We want to hear from you!
Fighting for AFGE members in Congress
The week was another busy one for AFGE on Capitol Hill as we continue to press for adequate appropriations, the lifting of personnel ceilings in DoD, legislation to equalize the pay area boundaries for the WG and GS pay systems (just reintroduced in the House by Rep. Matt Cartwright and in the Senate by Senator Bob Casey), and full rights for Title 38 employees at VA.
We also submitted testimony for a hearing on Veterans Benefits Administration workers on the subject of the impossible-to-meet performance standards and the impact of COVID-19 on the operations of VA’s regional offices.
I personally had a busy week too, attending an AFL-CIO Executive Board meeting that included a meeting with Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, an A. Philip Randolph Institute Board meeting, a DEFCON meeting, a Firefighters’ Steering Committee meeting, an AFL-CIO Racial Justice Taskforce Committee meeting, and topping it all off, meeting with AFGE’s own Human Rights Committee and Y.O.U.N.G. Committee at their annual training.
New White House Task Force Meets for First Time
Speaking of Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, you may have seen him in this tweet from Vice President Kamala Harris about the new White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment that she is chairing.
It has been really refreshing to see the way this administration has embraced labor unions and worked diligently to address the issues faced by working people. I’m looking forward to the work AFGE can do to inform this task force’s conversations about the issues facing government workers, and what role federal agencies can play in encouraging union membership throughout the country.
The continuing importance of Human Rights Committee (HRC) and Y.O.U.N.G.
Our discussion
with the HRC and Y.O.U.N.G. groups today focused on why we must take full
advantage of this moment – and it is a moment, with the days just ticking by –
when we have a pro-worker majority in both houses of Congress and the most
pro-union president of the United States in our lifetimes.
There is so much progress that our younger members are pushing for today – changes that are desperately needed. But we will only be able to make those dreams a reality if we take advantage of the urgency of NOW and unite for change. If we do that, we can pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and secure our freedom to vote; the Equality Act to make sure everyone is treated with dignity and respect; an infrastructure bill to start building back better across the country; and other progressive legislation.
Of course, we also discussed our NOW organizing program and all the many actions the NEC has taken to simultaneously grow this union and make sure that we economize and save money wherever possible.
Recognizing nurses and police this week
This week was both National Nurses and National Police Week. I hope you had a chance to read AFGE Local 1224 President Linda Ward-Smith’s op-ed about what it’s been like for nurses at the VA the last year during this pandemic and give them the appreciation they need.
I also hope you saw the email from AFGE 1969 President and Chair of the AFGE LEO Steering Committee Andrew Peterson commemorating National Police Week, which was this week. Our union is standing behind these brave officers and supporting legislation in the Law Enforcement Officers (LEO) Equity Act that would treat them the same as other federal law enforcement officers by improving their retirement and raising their pay.
Wherever you are, I hope that you took a minute this week to thank our brave nurses and law enforcement officers for everything that they do.
I also hope that you’re not stuck in gas lines this weekend. The recent hack of the Colonial pipeline and the troubles it caused up and down the east coast are a stark reminder, if we needed another after this year of living through a pandemic, of how fragile all the systems we rely on really are – and how important the work of the many folks who carry on behind the scenes, like our AFGE members, really is.
Take care and have a glorious union weekend.
In Solidarity,
Dr. Everett Kelley
AFGE National President
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