AFGE Local 3403 representing researchers, scientists, and administrative employees at the National Science Foundation (NSF) is pushing back against the agency’s unilateral change in telework arrangements without waiting for the counteroffer from the union.
NSF notified employees they are required to be at the worksite at least four days a pay period beginning Oct. 23. The notification came as the local was preparing a counteroffer and on the day the local president was leaving on annual leave.
NSF employees are currently eligible to telework for up to eight days per pay period under a new four-year contract signed last November. The new telework policy is a reflection of lessons learned during COVID that the nature of most work at NSF could be done remotely. But NSF appears to be throwing those lessons out the window.
Condemning the unilateral change, the local said management ignored the local’s advice during informal discussions. The local is drafting a counteroffer and has launched an employee survey to assess the impact management's plans to return to the office will have on employees’ working conditions and work-life balance.
Local President Jesus Soriano said the change has generated dismay among employees and university researchers who are serving a stint at the agency.
“AFGE Local 3403 is inundated by an unprecedented surge of complaints,” Soriano said in an email message to members. “So many of you are sharing heart-breaking stories of hardship and your disappointment with management.”
Soriano said several employees have already started looking for jobs elsewhere or planned to retire because management is asking people to choose between work and their families’ well-being.
“We are also deeply concerned by the sense of fatigue and fear of retaliation the employees are conveying to the union,” he added.
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