AFGE thanks Senate and House negotiators for including many of our union’s top priorities affecting employees in the Department of Defense and other federal agencies in the compromise version of the fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act that passed the House on Dec. 8. The Senate is expected to vote on the legislation this week.
“This legislation will improve pay and working conditions for civil service employees both inside and outside the Department of Defense and achieves many of our union’s top legislative priorities for the year,” AFGE President Everett Kelley said. “I urge the Senate to pass this legislation swiftly and send it to President Biden for his signature.”
Among the key AFGE-backed provisions realized by the compromise, the NDAA:
While the NDAA includes many of the union’s legislative priorities, AFGE is profoundly disappointed that the compromise bill excludes legislation passed by the House that would extend full Title 5 rights and equal pay to employees at the Transportation Security Administration.
“The nation’s transportation security officers have been treated like second-class citizens for far too long, and we call on Congress to rectify this unequal treatment by including full Title 5 rights in the omnibus spending bill now being debated,” Kelley said.
The compromise bill also excludes a provision previously passed by the House that would give the District of Columbia mayor the same authority over the National Guard that governors of states and territories have.
At a hearing on government oversight on March 9, several members of Congress, many of whom are freshmen representatives, defended federal agencies’ use of telework as an effective, valuable tool which, in many instances, has been life-changing for employees who are military spouses or people with disabilities.
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Ground rules are important during contract negotiations as they keep things running smoothly. Failing to follow the ground rules could be damaging to the violating party, as is the case at the Small Business Administration (SBA) in Washington, DC.
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March is Women’s History Month, and we’re voicing our support for a joint resolution introduced by Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., that would enshrine legal gender equality for women and men in our constitution.
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