Dedicated employees are crucial to successfully executing the mission of our federal government. Every government agency needs employees’ full support and a constructive working relationship with their union if it’s going to fully achieve its goals.
That’s why administrations and congresses for decades have written policies and enacted laws that foster good working relationships between agencies and employee unions.
A collective bargaining agreement is at the heart of the relationship between the employees and the agency.
Employees, through their union, negotiate an agreement that:
- Sets fair and effective workplace rules and standards to facilitate day-to-day operations.
- Promotes a safe, more productive workplace that allows employees to do their jobs and serve the American public.
- Provides an effective mechanism for sharing ideas and articulating employee concerns.
- Provides a simple, inexpensive, and just means for resolving disputes.
- Protects employees against unfair treatment, discrimination, and retaliation.
- Boosts employee morale and prevents high turnover.
But anti-worker politicians have engaged in tactics aimed at wiping out workplace rights and unions. A few examples include:
- Federal agencies are throwing out current contracts and imposing management directives.
- They are cutting off union dues deductions after one year or forcing employees to recertify their union membership on a yearly basis using a burdensome and time-consuming process.
- They are limiting employees’ access to their union by not allowing unions to use agency space for protecting workplace rights even if the union wants to pay for it.
- They are denying workers their legal right to union representation by taking away almost all representation hours, known as official time, used by union reps to fight unfair treatment, discrimination, and retaliation in the workplace.
That’s why we are taking to the streets on Sept. 24.
We are fed up with the attacks on our rights, our contracts, and our voice at work! We are rising up for dignity, for fairness, for respect, and for a real voice at work!
Join us at the rally:
When: Noon, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019
Where: Capitol Hill below Area 9 (across the street from the U.S. Supreme Court)
For more information about the rally, visit www.afge.org/fedup