Legislative Round Up
March 07, 2016
Categories:
Workers' Rights, Labor
There’s been a lot going on on Capitol Hill the past few weeks. Here’s a quick recap of recent legislative actions that public servants need to know:
The bills/actions we support:
- The 5.3% pay catch-up bill: H.R. 4584, introduced by Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia to give federal employees a 5.3% catch-up raise next year, has gained more co-sponsors. The bill now has 36 co-sponsors, up from 33.
- The Title 5 TSA bill: H.R. 4488, introduced by Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi to give TSA officers the same workplace rights as all federal employees, has gained more sponsors: 25, up from 13.
- The Senate version of the administrative leave bill: S. 2450, introduced by Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, is an alternative to the House version which would force employees into unpaid leave status while management is still trying to compile cases against them. The bill has five co-sponsors, up from three.
- Senate leaders stand up for military commissary workers: The Defense Department is being pressured by leading senators to drop its plan to Walmartize military grocery store workers. Thanks to the hard work of AFGE activists during the Legislative Conference, we received support from many senators, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Tim Kaine of Virginia, who co-signed the first letter from the Senate on the issue. The effort was led by Sen. Patty Murray of Washington.
The bill we oppose:
- The Tom Price anti-democracy bill: More lawmakers are increasingly anti-democracy, as seen from the number of co-sponsors of H.R. 4461, the bill that would rig the outcome of a union election by assigning “no” votes to employees who choose not to vote. The bill, which would also take away public servants’ right to have their union dues deducted from their pay check, currently has 40 cosponsors, up from 30. The bill was introduced by Rep. Tom Price of Georgia.
