WASHINGTON—Members of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest union of federal and D.C. government workers, want Mayor Adrian Fenty and the D.C. City Council to do something about critical staffing shortages and the increase in the number of assaults and safety issues facing employees. Eric Bunn is president of AFGE D.C. Council 211, which represents D.C. government workers, and Johnnie Walker is president of AFGE D.C. Local 383, which represents employees at several D.C. Human Services agencies including Youth Rehabilitative Services, and the D.C. Department of Mental Health and Retardation. During an interview on AFGE’s radio show “Inside Government”, Bunn and Walker said problems at their agencies had increased dramatically since Fenty took office in part because of a lack of communication between the Mayor and labor unions. They also urged the mayor to reestablish ties with the unions and rely upon employee expertise as part of his overall crime-fighting initiative.
The show will air on Friday, June 15 at 10:00 a.m. EDT nationwide on www.federalnewsradio.com and 1050 AM in the Washington, D.C., area.
Also scheduled to appear are Witold Skwierczynski, President of AFGE’s National Council of SSA Field Operations Locals, and Elise Bryant, Chairwoman of the Labor Heritage Foundation Board of Directors. Skwierczynski will address the current budget fight at SSA, and Bryant will discuss the upcoming Great Labor Arts Exchange taking place June 17-19.
“Inside Government” is a one-hour weekly nationwide radio/Internet program dedicated to issues that impact all federal and D.C. government employees. In launching “Inside Government”, AFGE became one of the first unions and the only federal workers’ union to have a national broadcast program on the air.
The program, hosted by AFGE Assistant General Counsel Ward Morrow, can be heard Fridays at 10:00 a.m. EDT nationally on demand (available anytime) at www.federalnewsradio.com or 1050 AM in the Washington, D.C., area.
Programs are archived on the Federal News Radio Web site and can be heard on demand (available anytime) at http://www.federalnewsradio.com/?nid=300. Federal News Radio is one of the most popular online news stations in the country, according to the Baltimore Sun/New York Times Syndicate.
“Inside Government” is also available to more than 70 million iPod users through Apple’s iTunes music download software. The program is available via podcast, located at the following link: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=212048686. Users must install iTunes on their computers before accessing “Inside Government” via podcast.
For more information, please e-mail
[email protected] or go to www.federalnewsradio.com.
Please note there will be a short advertisement prior to the start of the program.
Thinking about joining AFGE? Visit www.afge.org for more information.