3/9/09: The chairman of a key House subcommittee dealing with federal employee issues last week promised prompt action on a measure to provide paid parental leave, and left the door ajar for potential changes in the administration’s recommendation concerning federal pay in 2010.
2/26/09: NTEU national President Colleen Kelley yesterday applauded House approval of a fiscal 2009 omnibus appropriations measure that would take definitive steps to rein in runaway federal contracting.
2/11/09: A House measure introduced yesterday to provide annuity credit for unused sick leave to federal employees covered under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) would be an important step toward employee equity in the government, said NTEU national President Colleen Kelley.
President said the union is ready to help Congress deliver for FERS-covered employees the same credit for unused sick leave already provided to their Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) colleagues. The bill was introduced by Rep. James Moran (D-Va.).
1/22/09: A bipartisan measure introduced this week in the House of Representatives would provide federal workers with four weeks of paid parental leave for the birth or adoption of a child and bring the government’s approach to this key benefit closer to that of the private sector and many other industrialized nations, said NTEU National President Colleen Kelley, who applauded the bill’s introduction.
1/21/2009: This month, NTEU joined with a number of organizations in the FAIR coalition in sending a letter to President Obama expressing the position that future White House initiatives to reform the nation’s health care should not unintentionally jeopardize the integrity of FEHBP. The FAIR coalition is comprised of a number of organizations that represent current and retired federal employees and postal workers. Click HERE to review a copy of the letter.
1/15/09: In the first legislative victory for working Americans in the 111th Congress, last week the House of Representatives passed HR 11, the NTEU-endorsed “Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.”
Over the past seven years, some SEC managers and employees have suffered from a fundamental misconception regarding how it was that Congress passed Pay Parity, leading to substantially higher compensation levels for SEC employees. According to their version of events, although NTEU provided some small assistance in the process, the “heavy lifting” was done by SEC management. This is revisionist history. It is important to understand what really happened so that you will appreciate the union’s vital role at the SEC.
Early this month, NTEU National President Colleen Kelley welcomed recognition by key House members that structural issues involving both the SEC and more broadly the nation’s financial regulatory system played a major role in the proliferation of a long-running financial scheme.
The current economic crisis has led to increasing calls for fundamental changes to the financial regulatory structure of our nation. Such changes could have a profound impact upon the Securities and Exchange Commission and how it operates. NTEU leadership is currently working to ensure that SEC employee rights and benefits will be protected as these plans unfold in Washington. Union leaders have reached out to incoming SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro, House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, and members of the Obama transition team to discuss SEC issues.
President-Elect Obama recently stated during an interview on CNBC that he plans “a substantial overhaul” of financial regulation, including “better enforcement, better oversight, better disclosure, increased transparency.” He went on to say that, “We’re going to have to look at this alphabet soup of agencies and figure out how do we get them to work together more effectively. We’ve got to stop splintering functions in such a way that capital in one form is treated one way and capital in another form is treated another way, because these days in global financial markets, they’re all fungible.”
12/17/08: Late yesterday, OPM announced the approval of changes to the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Standard Option plan under FEHBP for out-of-network nonemergency surgeries. Under the new agreement, BC/BS’s coverage will be similar to last year’s plan when enrollees use out of network physicians.
