Enforcement Blackberry Agreement
2/3/10: During a recent Enforcement Division meeting, Adam Storch announced that the Division was considering giving Blackberry mobile communications devices to its employees. NTEU Chapter 293 requested an opportunity to bargain over this change in working conditions. Earlier today, the Union and the SEC entered into a memorandum of understanding ("MOU") regarding the parameters for the issuance and use of Blackberries in Enforcement.
Under the MOU, the SEC has agreed that the use of Blackberries will not affect bargaining unit employees' hours of work, which will remain consistent with the Collective Bargaining Agreement and other applicable laws, rules, regulations and past practice at the agency. The SEC also has agreed that Blackberries are for use by employees only during their regularly scheduled tour of duty, and thus that participating employees may turn off and store their Blackberries when they are not on duty. Furthermore, the SEC has agreed that not responding to communications when an employee is not on duty will have no effect on an employee's appraisals and will not be considered in any promotion action nor with respect to any other condition of employment.
Chapter 293 also reached agreement on other issues related to the use of Blackberries. For example, participating employees may forward calls to their Blackberries when teleworking or on travel, and they will be permitted personal use subject to existing policies and rules regarding personal use of SEC equipment. The SEC will supply all employees with a hands free wired headset so that employees will not be required to hold the devices to their heads when taking telephone calls if they have concerns about adverse health effects that may be associated with the use of mobile devices over extended periods of time. And if an employee inadvertently damages or loses a device, he or she will suffer no adverse effect in any appraisal, promotional opportunity, or other condition of employement.
The SEC also agreed that global positioning systems on Blackberries, which could afford the SEC the ability to track the location of employees whenever they carry the devices, will be disabled before issuance and will remain disabled. Furthermore, the agency will not be permitted to monitor the times that Blackberries are turned on or off or to use such information for performance evaluation purposes or to take adverse action against an employee.
All Enforcement attorneys, accountants and other employees at grade SK-13 and above will receive a Blackberry. Other Enforcement employees may request one by notifying their supervisors in writing.
"I am pleased that we were able to get this agreement on Blackberries with the Division of Enforcement," Chapter 293 President Greg Gilman noted this morning. "A great many employees expressed concerns about being 'on call' 24/7. This is the type of quality of life issue about which we feel the Union is in the best position to make a big difference for SEC employees."