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Paid Family Leave
02/08/2023
Yesterday, Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA) introduced the Comprehensive Paid Leave for Federal Employees Act. This important legislation would update existing law by providing federal employees with up to 12 weeks of paid time off to care for themselves or an immediate family member dealing with a serious illness. NTEU is proud to join the long list of federal employee advocates endorsing this legislation.
Under current law, if a federal employee needs to be away from work for an extended period for a covered event (such as a health condition), that employee can... Read more ...
Ben Franklin
02/02/2023
Representative Gerry Connolly (VA) and Senator Brian Schatz (HI) have introduced the NTEU-supported FAIR Act, which would provide an average 8.7 percent pay increase for federal employees in 2024. The legislation consists of a 4.7 percent across-the-board increase and an average 4.0 percent for locality pay. Under the compensation agreement negotiated by the union, this increase would be a component of SEC employees' raise.
The Federal Employee Pay Comparability Act (FEPCA, 5 USC 5303) indicates that federal employees should receive a 4.7 percent pay raise in 2024, prior to any amount being... Read more ...
Teleworker
02/02/2023
This week, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 221-206 to pass the so-called SHOW UP Act (H.R. 139). NTEU opposes this legislation and urged members of the House of Representatives to vote no on this bill. We are grateful for those members of Congress who voted with NTEU.   
The legislation would require every federal agency to return to the telework policies in place in 2019, without regard to either collective bargaining agreements or the proven positive results based on actual telework experience. Given that some federal agencies are reducing leased space or have already signed leases... Read more ...
11/03/2022
The SEC has notified the union that it will not be extending the lease for Station Place 3 (SP3) at SEC Headquarters in Washington, D.C. (HQ), and that it intends to move the almost 400 non-management employees currently located there into temporary, doubled-up spaces in SP1 and SP2, apparently so that they can be included in Chairman Gensler’s “Return to Office” plan this winter. The union has demanded formal bargaining over this misguided decision, which will result in an unnecessary and wasteful expenditure of public funds for repetitive HQ office moves in 2023, as well as a further... Read more ...

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Debt Limit
02/02/2023
This month, the outstanding debt of the United States reached the statutory limit. The Treasury Department has begun taking “extraordinary measures” to prevent the U.S. from defaulting on its financial obligations. This includes suspending investments in the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund as well as reinvestment of Treasury securities held by the TSP’s G-Fund until Congress acts to raise the debt limit. By law, the funds will be made whole once the debt limit has been raised. Federal employees will not be affected by these actions.  
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin has urged... Read more ...
10/23/2022
Last week, Chair Gensler’s disagreements with the union over negotiations for our new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and pandemic return to office (RTO) issues both went to litigation before the Federal Service Impasses Panel (FSIP).
After five all-day mediation sessions before a federal mediator at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), Chair Gensler’s team refused the union’s efforts to reach a compromise on any of the primary areas of disagreement remaining in our CBA dispute. For example, the Chair continues to make unreasonable demands regarding telework,... Read more ...
09/30/2022
WHEN: On Tuesday, October 25, from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM Eastern, NTEU Chapter 293 will hold its annual member meeting. Due to the SEC's current office status, the meeting will be held via WebEx. The union's panel will appear live at the Station Place Auditorium. WebEx connection information will be sent out to union members prior to the event.
NONMEMBERS:  Over 75% of bargaining unit (non-management) employees at the SEC are members of the union. Any bargaining unit employee who is not yet a member of the union who would like to attend the meeting may join the union by filling out boxes 1, 2... Read more ...
09/28/2022
Today, SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s management team and the union are commencing mediation sessions at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) regarding our stalled Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiations. The parties remain in disagreement over numerous aspects of our basic employment agreement, such as how our pensions are funded, existing limitations on the Student Loan Repayment Program, how our annual leave is accrued, and what our post-pandemic telework program will look like. As the CBA talks edge closer towards litigation, it is important to understand the basic... Read more ...
09/13/2022
A number of SEC union members have asked the union about our positions on telework during our negotiations with Chair Gensler’s management negotiating team over a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) during the summer. NTEU Chapter 293 does not typically take positions during bargaining, but instead seeks to identify the important interests of both parties in an effort to narrow areas of disagreement. In keeping with that strategy, late last spring the union’s CBA negotiating team made the following PowerPoint presentation to SEC management regarding important interests related to... Read more ...
08/11/2022
The union is receiving an increasing number of inquiries about the status of the union’s bargaining over the SEC’s plan to return all staff to the office for mandatory in-person work (“RTO”) in January. We regret to inform you that management notified the union this week that Chair Gensler has opted to immediately take the matter to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (“FMCS”). Mediation at FMCS usually constitutes the first step towards bringing a bargaining “impasse” to the Federal Service Impasses Panel (“FSIP”) for resolution through litigation.
Chair Gensler’s decision to go... Read more ...