WHAT: Town Hall Meeting at Chase Suites Conference Center on Pay and Worker Rights for Customs and Border Protection Workers
WHERE: Chase Suites Conference Center, 6791 Montana Avenue
WHEN: Thursday, Jan. 19, 6 p.m.
GUEST: John Gage, National President, American Federation of Government Employees; Roy Flores, National Vice President, 10th District, American Federation of Government Employees.
(El Paso, Texas)—Employees of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) division will hold a town hall meeting on protecting the rights and pay of CBP employees. The meeting will be held at the Chase Suites Conference Center in El Paso at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 19. John Gage, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the union that represents DHS employees, will be on hand to brief attendees on CBP-related developments, take questions and provide information on national trends.
At the meeting, Gage, along with AFGE National Vice President Roy Flores, will discuss a variety of issues including AFGE’s 6C campaign and the administration’s controversial One Face at the Border campaign. AFGE has raised concerns about CBP officers’ lack of law enforcement status and is engaged in a vigorous campaign to ensure that CBP officers receive full 6C retirement benefits and fair pay grade increases. Additionally, AFGE is opposed to the administration’s One Face program, an initiative AFGE feels puts untrained CBP officers in harm’s way by assigning them to dangerous missions that require specialized skills, training and experience.
“CBP employees are on the front lines in the war on terrorism but that aren’t given the training they need to do their jobs and they don’t receive the pay and benefits they deserve,” said Gage. “We can’t protect the homeland if CBP workers are treated like second-class citizens.”