| 2010 NTEU Legislative Conference |
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Legislative Conference Attendees Organize, Mobilize and Deliver
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Organizing NTEU members around key issues, mobilizing them to make good things happen and delivering on the union’s goals was the path outlined for NTEU by President Colleen M. Kelley at the 2010 Legislative Conference.
“We have a long history of very successful advocacy on behalf of federal employees, and I know that we can and will deliver on our 2010 legislative agenda,” Kelley told the several hundred attendees.
That agenda includes ensuring pay parity between federal civilian employees and members of the military, securing collective bargaining rights for employees of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), winning the right for federal retirees to use pretax dollars to pay health care premiums, and fighting for affordable health care costs for federal employees.
Remember, President Kelley said, “our efforts are cumulative and every year we build on our successes of the previous year.”
To underscore that point, she recounted some of NTEU’s 2009 victories—including having the IRS shut down its program of outsourcing tax collection work and winning for another year a moratorium on new public-private competitions for federal work.
The NTEU leader also noted NTEU’s work in securing an executive order establishing labor-management collaborative forums in the federal sector. “This important initiative sets the stage for pre-decisional input of employees and their representatives in the operation of their agencies,” Kelley said.
NTEU’s agenda for 2010 is ambitious but the influence NTEU members have on Capitol Hill will help move it along. “You understand the importance of developing and building relationships with your members of Congress; of educating those members on federal employee issues; and organizing the members of your chapters,” Kelley told the attendees as they prepared to spread out and visit hundreds of lawmakers.
President Kelley also spoke of the attack on IRS employees in Austin when a suicide pilot deliberately flew his plane into their offices and killed a 27-year employee of the agency.
After she recounted the stories she had heard of the heroism of employees who risked their own safety to ensure that their colleagues got out alive, she turned to public reaction. “Shockingly, some members of the public and some public figures have made callous remarks and jokes about flying planes into IRS buildings,” Kelley said as she called on lawmakers and others to speak out against such comments.
Many elected officials have spoken out, including President Obama who sent President Kelley a letter that she read to the crowded room.
“There are far more who support federal employees and the work that we do than there are those who would denigrate the work of federal employees for political reasons. We need to raise the level of our national discourse and NTEU will work tirelessly to do so,” Kelley said.
President Obama Voices Support for Federal Employees in Letter to NTEU
In a March 9 letter to NTEU, President Obama notes that the federal employees face certain risks in their jobs and he thanks them for their daily service to our country.
"We are grateful to these employees for their dedication to enforcing laws and managing important programs that help all Americans," President Obama wrote. "The Constitution's vision of 'a more perfect union' is only possible because of their tireless efforts."
The president also says that his administration is committed to ensuring the safety of federal employees. |
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