AFGE is asking the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to live up to its claim as the model agency in the federal government by continuing the telework program established during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The telework program allowed more telework days per employee and gave more employees overall the option to participate in the telework program. The success of the telework program was an essential factor in maintaining the continuing operations of the agency through the pandemic.
According to AFGE Local 32, which represents OPM employees, OPM wants all employees to return to their physical offices on April 25 regardless of whether their work can be done remotely. Prior to the pandemic, some employees were able to telework, but during the pandemic, the entire workforce participated in maximum telework and remote work.
As part of the reentry plan, the local has tried for months to negotiate with the agency about maintaining flexibilities like maximized telework and social distancing to make the workplace safer. It has offered 80 telework proposals and wants the agency to use lessons learned during the pandemic to continue to serve the American public while keeping employees safe. The telework program has proven over the past two years that more work can be done remotely or in a maximized telework situation.
Except for a few worksite safety-related measures, the agency has refused to negotiate with the local on telework and wants to go back to a pre-pandemic telework program, despite the program’s success. The local filed 13 unfair labor practices against OPM alleging failure to bargain in good faith.
“We are still in a pandemic. Returning people back to the office should not be rushed, and it certainly should not be done without providing a healthy and safe environment for employees to work,” said Local 32 President Marlo Bryant-Cunningham. “OPM’s director seems more concerned with political posturing and assessing unreasonable deadlines for employees to return to the office than working out these details with our union.”