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December 2002
Appoints Postal Service Privatization Commission
President Bush appointed a nine-member commission, with no representative
from any postal union, to study the United States Postal Service as part
of his plan, according to The Washington Post, "to allow private
contractors to compete for nearly half of the government's civilian jobs."
The Postal Service employs about 750,000 workers at 38,000 facilities.
The commission is "a thinly veiled attempt to dismantle the Postal
Service as we know it. The president's action puts into motion the most
serious threat in 200 years to modify the underpinnings of the U.S. Postal
Service, including universal service, uniform rates and six-day-a-week
delivery," said Postal Workers President William Burrus. The lack
of a postal union representative on the commission continues a Bush administration
pattern of excluding workers' representatives on government panels studying
workplace issues.
Proposes repeal of family-friendly unemployment benefits rule
The Bush administration announced in December its intention to repeal
a rule that allows states to use unemployment compensation funds to provide
benefits to workers who must leave their jobs temporarily to care for
newborn or newly adopted children. The Birth and Adoption Unemployment
Compensation rule-also known as the "Baby UI" rule-that took
in effect in 2000 is completely voluntary for states that are exploring
new ways to help working families balance work and family requirements.
No state has implemented such a program, but in 2001, bills were introduced
in 20 state legislatures to establish birth and adoption unemployment
benefit programs. A number of states are considering options for providing
paid leave to workers, and California adopted the nation's first such
program earlier this year. The Bush action follows the failure of administration
and Republican congressional leaders to extend unemployment benefits to
close to 800,000 workers who will exhaust their UI benefits three days
after Christmas.
Revives cash bonuses for political appointees
In March, the Bush administration overturned a ban on cash bonus awards
to political appointees in federal government patronage jobs but did not
publicly announce the change. News reports brought the action to light
in December. Such awards were banned under White House policy in 1994
because of past abuse and favoritism including, according to The Washington
Post, "questionable payments to some outgoing aides in the final
days of the administration of President George H.W. Bush, the president's
father." About, 2,100 political appointees are eligible for awards
of up to $25,000. Total awards could exceed $25 million. The action came
to light just days after Bush announced he was withholding a quarter of
the pay adjustment career federal employees were to receive in 2003. "Whether
it's tax cuts for the rich or privatizing 850,000 jobs to boost the fortunes
of contractors, this administration knows how to enrich the rich and to
impoverish working families," said AFGE President Bobby L. Harnage
Sr.
Shuts workers, unions out of most safety studies
The Bush administration announced formation of a national advisory committee
on ergonomics Dec. 4 to study causes and methods to prevent workplace
ergonomic injuries that hurt some 1.8 million workers a year. But for
the first time in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's
32-year history, a workplace safety advisory committee did not contain
an equal number of union and management representatives. Two union safety
staff members were appointed, compared with seven management representatives.
The Bush administration also has formed several "alliances"
in specific industries, such as meatpacking, airlines, printing and others,
to study workplace safety, but none of those alliances include union or
worker representatives. In fact, many of the corporations tapped to serve
on the ergonomics advisory board and the alliances opposed creation of
a federal ergonomics standard to prevent workplace repetitive motion injuries
and were instrumental in the law's repeal when Bush took control of the
government.
Allowed jobless workers to lose unemployment benefits
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives, with backing from the
Bush administration, in a straight party-line vote rejected a Democratic
economic stimulus proposal that would have extended the emergency federal
unemployment benefits program for long-term laid-off workers for another
six months and added 13 weeks of regular benefits for jobless workers
in all states. The Republican plan, backed by the Bush administration,
would help the jobless in only three states, would do nothing to help
the long-term unemployed workers who already have exhausted their benefits
and would deny any benefits to 2.9 million laid-off workers who are expected
to run out of emergency and regular benefits in the next six months.
November 2002
Announced plans to privatize federal workforce
The Bush administration announced plans Nov. 14 to make it easier to eliminate
federal jobs and contract the work out to private companies. Proposed
changes to the rules that govern contracting out-OMB Circular A-76-will
give private companies the advantage over federal workers in the private-public
competition process. Of the 850,000 jobs the Bush administration hopes
to put up for bid eventually, the White House has set a goal to bid out
at least 15 percent, or 127,500, by October 2003, according to news reports.
Leaders of the largest federal workers union, AFGE, said they would reserve
final judgment on the proposal until they have a chance to examine its
detail, but said they view it with skepticism because "Bush administration
officials are at war with reliable and experienced rank-and-file federal
employees. They are systematically conspiring to bust their unions, gut
their civil service protections and hand over their jobs to politically
well-connected contractors."
October 2002
Asked Fire Fighters member to resign from valor
commission because of union affiliation
When the Bush White House asked Prince Georges County, Md., Fire Fighters
Local 1619 President Thomas McEachin to resign his appointment to its
Medal of Valor Commission-a group that recognizes firefighters and other
public safety officers for service above and beyond the call of duty-because
of his IAFF affiliation, he refused. So this October the administration
simply removed him. The White House asked McEachin to resign because IAFF
leaders criticized the Bush administration's opposition to the Staffing
for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Firefighters Act-which
will provide money for 75,000 additional firefighters nationwide-as well
as additional funding for the Firefighter Investment and Response Enhancement
(FIRE) Act and money to monitor the health of firefighters who responded
to the World Trade Center. "This was a real eye-opener for me,"
said McEachin. "My removal smacks of retribution and pettiness on
the part of the administration."
Uses Taft-Hartley to intervene in West Coast dock lockout
In an unprecedented move, the Bush administration invoked the Taft-Hartley
Act to intervene in a lockout at the nation's West Coast ports. President
George W. Bush secured a court order Oct. 8 ordering the Pacific Maritime
Association (PMA) to temporarily end its lockout of 10,500 dockworkers
at 29 West Coast ports and ordering work to resume without a contract.
The court later continued the injunction as an 80-day cooling off period
during which work is to continue. From the beginning of the contract negotiations
between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the PMA, Bush
has threatened to use federal power to intervene in the talks. Bush's
threats "tainted the water of negotiations, giving employers no incentive
to engage in good-faith bargaining," AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer
Richard Trumka said. This is the first time Taft-Hartley has been used
since 1978 and the first time ever in a lockout.
Ducks hearings on Social Security privatization
When the Senate Finance Committee held hearings Oct. 3 on three options
President Bush's Social Security privatization commission endorsed last
December, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill was absent, having rejected
two requests to testify before the committee. Bush created the commission
in 2001, handpicking proponents of diverting a portion of payroll taxes
away from Social Security and into individual, private accounts. Despite
the ongoing stock market collapse and corporate scandals in which workers
lost their retirement security, Bush reportedly still supports privatization
and hopes for action in the next year, after the elections. "Secretary
O'Neill's absence deprives the American people of the information they
deserve about exactly what privatization action the president plans to
pursue," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said.
Opposes funds for firefighters
President Bush is opposing a request by fire chiefs, unions and lawmakers
to use federal money to help fire departments hire more personnel. The
Fire Fighters and the International Association of Fire Chiefs are seeking
a federal grant to help communities with understaffed departments hire
75,000 new firefighters over the next seven years at a cost of $7.6 billion.
Bush has proposed spending $3.5 billion for police officers, firefighters
and other first responders in the next fiscal year, with most of the money
going for training and equipment. "All the right equipment in the
world and all the training isn't really of much value if you don't have
adequate numbers of personnel to perform their mission," said IAFF
President Harold Schaitberger.
Sept-May
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