WASHINGTON – American Federation of Government Employees National President J. David Cox Sr. today issued the following statement:
“I congratulate Beth Cobert for being nominated by President Obama to serve as permanent director of the Office of Personnel Management. Ms. Cobert stepped into the OPM role at a difficult time, as the agency was reeling from the massive theft of personal information on employees, retirees and job applicants that was stored on OPM computers.
“Ms. Cobert has done an admirable job as acting director. She has answered questions about the data breach honestly, has taken steps to bring in-house the work associated with notifying affected employees, and seems to understand IT adequately enough to make sure that security measures are in place to minimize further breaches.
“If confirmed by the Senate, she will need to confront all of the challenges her predecessors left undone. These include reducing the backlog of federal retirement claims, exercising greater oversight and control of the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program, eliminating inequities in federal pay systems and defending OPM’s prior work in administering those systems, ensuring agencies adhere to merit system principles in all employment matters, and ensuring agencies seek input from unions in pre-decisional discussions as required under the president’s executive order.”
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