Become an NTEU Member
Every eligible CFPB employee is urged to become an NTEU member. Strength in the federal workplace comes from being part of something powerful. There is also strength in numbers, and by working together, we can make CFPB a model workplace.
For those employees who already signed up to be a member during the election, NTEU is working on submitting and processing those forms. In a few weeks, you will receive an NTEU membership card in the mail.
Signing up is easy. Simply complete this form and e-mail or fax it to NTEU (202-572-5646). Have questions related to membership? Contact NTEU today.
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Don't miss out on important news and information. Sign up to receive our e-newsletter for CFPB employees.
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Upcoming NTEU Events
 Thursday, May 23
11:00-1:00
1625 Eye Street
Room 4090
Thursday, May 30
11:00-1:00
1750 Pennsylvania Ave.
Conference Room A
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The NTEU Difference
With its successful history in the federal financial regulatory environment, NTEU has the kind of experience that warrants your trust and support. With NTEU representation, you will have an effective voice in helping shape your workplace, where there are important issues at stake. Among these are:
- The travel policy and process: We have put our knowledge to work and won important gains for employees in other financial regulatory agencies.
- Performance evaluations and their relation to pay: NTEU is experienced and successful in making systems operate with fairness and transparency.
- Recruitment and promotions: An NTEU negotiated contract would include clear and objective systems for recruitment and promotion opportunities.
- Office renovations and employee workspace: NTEU knows that the office layout and environment is critical to a productive workforce and has much experience bargaining over these issues.
- Questions about staffing workload, resources, and more: NTEU works to ensure federal employees have the tools and resources they need to do their jobs. NTEU advocates for funding and ensures that an appropriate workload and training opportunities are made available to employees.
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Contact Us
 Got more questions? Need information? Contact Lolly Gaines.
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How Do Unions Represent White Collar Workers?
When you think of union members, you might think of law enforcement officers, teachers or skilled laborers. But increasingly, union members are also lawyers, CPAs, bank examiners, IT experts, scientists, doctors and researchers.
In the American workplace, whether in government or the private sector, the reality is that you often don’t get what you deserve; instead, you get what you negotiate.
Nowhere does that play out more dramatically and more importantly than in union-represented workplaces. The fact is that the quality of your work life can be dramatically improved by union representation, through contract negotiations, educating and lobbying Congress on agency funding and other matters, in the courts and administrative agencies, and more.
That simple fact effectively destroys the myth that unions are only for blue-collar workers. There was a nugget of truth to that half-a-century ago, when manufacturing was king in America. But today—and surely including among federal employees—unions are the linchpin to a positive workplace and a satisfying work life for white-collar workers.
See how federal employees at other agencies have benefited from NTEU representation.
Take a look at the proof in federal financial regulatory agencies, where NTEU looks out for employee rights and interests. Here’s just a sample from across our agencies:
• Are you concerned about professional integrity issues? NTEU’s contracts address employee rights in this key area;
• Have an opportunity to give a speech and receive honoraria? NTEU won a court battle years ago giving federal employees that right.
• Are you interested in telework or an Alternative Work Schedule (AWS)? NTEU leads the way in the federal workplace winning such rights for employees across many occupations.
• Concerned about awards? NTEU has brought fairness and transparency to awards programs across government.
There’s lot more, too.
But overriding everything is the role that collective action plays in protecting and advancing your rights, and securing new rights.
Any way you look at it, as a federal employee, NTEU representation is in your best interest. |
 Did you know... That NTEU represents employees in the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Fiscal Service and the Internal Revenue Service, as well as many other agencies? |
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Election Results Certified!
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The ballots being counted last week. |
The Federal Labor Relations Authority has completed certifying the results from last week’s election. With 60 percent of eligible votes cast and 80 percent voting in favor of union representation, NTEU is the declared winner and is officially representing 800 employees at CFPB. Both professional and non-professional employees are represented in one bargaining unit, giving CFPB employees more power to improve working conditions.
Following last week’s election, NTEU National President Colleen M. Kelley received a phone call from Richard Cordray, CFPB Director, and will soon be meeting with Cordray to discuss important issues and the next steps for NTEU and CFPB.
Welcome to NTEU!
An NTEU chapter will be chartered to represent all CFPB employees. Every NTEU chapter is a democratic institution, with officers elected by you and your colleagues and where decisions are discussed and made in meetings open to all members.
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For the moment, President Kelley will appoint interim leaders, or officers. They will be in office for a couple of months, while chapter members adopt bylaws and hold an election to elect officers. During the election, members can nominate themselves or another member for elected office. In coming months, chapter members should elect the first slate of officers, who will serve for two or three years depending on the term adopted in the bylaws.
An NTEU National Field Representative will also be assigned to the chapter to provide representation advice and assistance in standing up the chapter.
Now that the election results have been certified, NTEU is preparing to go to the bargaining table with CFPB to negotiate the agency’s first-ever labor agreement. A bargaining team of CFPB employees representing a cross-section of the CFPB workforce will be assembled, and there is a lot to bargain.
NTEU: A Record of Achievement
Employees at federal financial regulatory agencies have concerns and issues specific to the unique missions of their agencies. At NTEU, we understand how protecting consumers’ rights in the financial arena presents certain challenges for employees and agencies. Our mission is to find solutions that work for employees and help agencies be successful.
Over the years, NTEU has developed an accomplished record of reaching those goals, ensuring that workers have a strong pay and benefits package and positioning employees to be productive and efficient and make a difference every day for American consumers at banks and in the financial markets.
Here is a quick look at what the union has negotiated for employees at other financial regulatory agencies. NTEU will bring this experience in forging workable agreements to CFPB.
• At NCUA: more money guaranteed for promotions; a new savings plan, with an agency matching contribution; and, significant improvements in agency payments toward health, dental and vision insurance.
• At FDIC: transparency in setting pay; more money for pay-for-performance; and, boosts in locality pay rates
• At SEC: better work-balance permitting employees to work from home, utilize flexible work schedules; and, a great Student Loan Repayment Program.
• At OCC: a first-ever compensation agreement that includes increases to employee life cycle accounts and hikes in agency contributions to employee retirement programs.
With NTEU, Your Ideas and Concerns Are Heard
 NTEU is experienced in bringing employee voices to the bargaining table to negotiate workplace and compensation matters—a process that has resulted in tremendous benefits for federal workers in the areas of fair pay practices, objective promotion processes, travel policies and more.
NTEU will solicit your ideas, suggestions and concerns, and a bargaining team of CFPB employees will be put together to bring employee concerns to the table. Led by NTEU’s professional negotiations staff, the team will be representative of a cross-section of regional and headquarter employees, and they will put the issues in perspective for management. They know firsthand how work gets done on the frontlines to serve taxpayers and protect consumers and understand how changes would impact that work.
The agreements reached through the collective bargaining process result in clear and understood employee rights and benefits contained in the NTEU contract, which can cover the following areas:
- Performance Evaluations
- Objective Promotions
- Unpaid Overtime
- Fair Pay Practices
- Travel Policies
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- Office Space
- Alternative Work Schedules
- Telework
- Credit Hours
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An NTEU-negotiated contract also makes sure policies proposed by management are implemented as promised, and NTEU continually revisits them for improvements. The goal is to protect—and expand—the rights currently enjoyed by employees. On issues large and small, bargaining is a non-stop process at NTEU.
NTEU Celebrates 75th Anniversary in 2013
Since 1938, NTEU has been a tireless advocate for federal employees working to ensure that every employee is treated with dignity and respect. The union, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, has a long history of ground-breaking achievements that significantly benefited federal financial regulators––and the entire federal workforce.
Take a look at some of NTEU’s historic victories for federal employees:
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Negotiating Pay and Benefits In NTEU-represented financial regulatory agencies, NTEU fought for and won the right to negotiate over pay and benefits. Nearly 20 years ago, NTEU won the right to negotiate over pay and benefits at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Since then, NTEU has secured and expanded this right to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). Thousands of employees today enjoy higher pay raises, boosts in locality pay and significantly improved performance appraisal systems as a result of NTEU’s achievement of bargaining over pay and benefits.
Economic Justice for Federal Employees NTEU successfully litigated to bring payments of $178 million to tens of thousands of current and former special rate federal employees. In the long-running class action effort, NTEU won a settlement in 1998 to ensure that the government properly paid the special rate employees who had been denied their rightful pay.
Hatch Act Reform NTEU led a powerful campaign in 1993 to amend the Hatch Act. Through educating members of Congress and engaging NTEU members at the grassroots level, NTEU’s work led to the expansion of opportunities for federal employees in the political process. Prior to the reforms, federal employees were virtually barred from taking part in most political activities, besides voting. Now, employees are permitted to run for nonpartisan office, volunteer on a political campaign on their own time and get involved in a host of other activities.
Landmark Half-Billion-Dollar Back Pay Victory In 1972, NTEU sued President Richard Nixon to challenge his decision to bypass Congress and postpone salary increases for all federal workers covered by the General Schedule. The lawsuit resulted in an unprecedented victory that required the government to pay over $533 million in back pay to federal workers.
Overturning the Honoraria Ban NTEU went to court to fight a ban on honoraria for federal employees—and won. The Supreme Court overturned the ban in 1995, allowing federal employees to earn money through freelance writing assignments or speaking engagements unrelated to their work.
Fair Pay a Top Priority for NTEU
Locality pay and overtime pay are two key pieces to ensuring a fair pay system at CFPB, and NTEU can help. NTEU’s record of success has benefited thousands of federal financial regulatory employees with a competitive compensation structure.
NTEU has strong experience in negotiating for locality pay rates equal to or exceeding the General Schedule locality rates. At the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), NTEU negotiated for locality pay provisions that eliminated the inadequate pay levels set by management. NTEU won similar provisions for employees at the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).
NTEU is also experienced in making sure overtime compensation systems are enforced. In one litigation case, NTEU won substantial back pay for FDIC employees who attended training but were not compensated for their overtime as required by federal law. NTEU filed a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) lawsuit and won reimbursement payments for the impacted employees.
NTEU Brings Expertise to Office Space Negotiations
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Proposed changes to office space at CFPB headquarters locations is generating a lot of concern among employees, who rightly fear their productivity could be negatively impacted by the changes. There are a number of factors that go into office space configurations, such as size, layout, and proximity to windows.
Union-represented employees have a right to negotiate all of these, including procedures for employees when selecting their individual offices or work stations. We can also negotiate over the quality of temporary space and office design. As your representative, you can have a role in determining the outcome of these and other proposals affecting your working conditions.
NTEU has successfully negotiated for improved office space policies and also won numerous cases before third-party arbitrators. In one recent case, NTEU negotiated with the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure that if at any point management plans to reduce an employee’s individual office space over a certain amount, the agency must negotiate with NTEU over such proposals to ensure adequate space to do the job and other factors are taken into account.
In another space-related victory, NTEU won a case before the Federal Service Impasses Panel (FSIP) where the arbitrator sided with NTEU’s plan for allocating office space that emphasized the role of seniority in selecting offices over an agency plan that did not.
NTEU stands by policies that promote employee privacy and confidentiality, adequate space to perform the job and productivity.
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NTEU Can Solidify Improvements to Travel Policies
CFPB recently announced improvements to its travel policies. NTEU applauds any measures taken to improve employees' work lives; however, it is not uncommon for agencies to unveil improved benefits when there is talk of union representation.
While the changes are a step in the right direction, union representation can give employees a stronger voice in how such policies are determined. Employees have a lot of good ideas about how to operate more efficiently and bargaining brings those ideas to the table.
NTEU will help ensure the policies are implemented as promised and those improvements are included in a contract so employees’ rights are clear and understood. An NTEU bargaining team would negotiate with management to reach agreement on policies that meet the needs of employees and the agency. You can count on NTEU making sure such benefits are not taken away or arbitrarily changed.
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Several CFPB Employees Benefit from NTEU's Performance Awards Victory
NTEU bargains and then continually monitors pay-for-performance systems to ensure they are fair, credible and transparent. At the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), NTEU recently secured a $2.61 million settlement for employees who were unfairly denied a performance award as part of FDIC’s pay-for-performance system. More than 1,500 current and former FDIC employees will receive payouts under the settlement, including some who now work for CFPB.
NTEU successfully challenged FDIC’s flawed pay system to provide relief to the impacted employees. A neutral third party found that the pay system, as implemented by the FDIC, had an unlawful, discriminatory impact on African Americans and employees over 40. The settlement was a victory for all FDIC employees because it exposed inequities in the pay system and led to revisions.
NTEU has worked collaboratively with FDIC in an ongoing effort to resolve these and other flaws with the agency’s performance management program. This settlement reflects increasingly positive labor-management relations between the FDIC and NTEU.
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Fairness in Performance Appraisal Systems
Fairness and transparency should be integral to an agency’s performance appraisal program. NTEU is committed to ensuring that performance appraisals are viewed as fair and credible and providing employees with an avenue to challenge their appraisals.
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To do this, NTEU negotiates with management to transform an unfair evaluation system into a more fair and transparent one.
At the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), for example, NTEU won the right to bargain over employee compensation, and that included more transparent procedures for awarding merit increases and bonuses. Merit increases are now tied directly to employee performance ratings. NTEU made sure that management “discretion” in giving different pay increases to same-rating employees was eliminated.
Similar gains were won for NTEU-represented employees at the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). The union bargained a stronger and improved benefits package that included a more objective performance evaluation system as well as a fairer merit promotion notification process.
Thousands of federal financial regulatory employees benefit from aggressive and professional NTEU representation. NTEU can gain the same results for you and your job at CFPB.
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