Shutdown...or Lockout?

We are now into week two of the full blown circus that is the government shutdown of 2013.  For some 800,000 federal employees who are being furloughed, there is another word for this situation: lockout.

lock·out

[lok-out] Show IPA

noun

the temporary closing of a business or the refusal by an employer to allow employees to come to work until they accept the employer's terms.

The only difference between this situation, and the definition from our friends at dictionary.com is that the federal employees do not have the means to accept the employer's terms.  This is because they are being kept off the job by a few dozen extremists in the House of Representatives who do not care about the livelihood of 800,000 people.

The American Federation of Government Employees(AFGE) is the largest of the labor organizations representing about 300,000 dues paying members.  While AFGE President J. David Cox has made some media appearances, and there have been a few rallies on the Hill, AFGE has not yet started treating this like the lockout that it is.

In most cases, when unions are locked out by management, they immediately set up a picket line and pull out all the stops to force an end to the stalemate.  So far, there have been a few small rallies and a membership drive that allows members to earn a $100 rebate for signing up new members.  While I'm all about membership drives, and was active in them during my years as an AFGE member, perhaps a more militant, in your face approach might be appropriate given the task at hand.

My good friend, Bill Preston, President of AFGE Local 17, is spearheading a rally this Friday.  Here is the pertinent information:

Join Local 17 of American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) for a Rally at the Capitol to Protest the Government Shutdown and Support your Fellow Workers

When: Friday, October 11, 2013 from 12:00 Noon until 3:00 PM

Where: The West Front of the U.S. Capitol Building  The attached map from the U.S. Capitol Police gives the exact location: It is the demonstration permit area marked # 1.

Who: All Federal employees* and their friends and families and allies, including veterans (Local 17 represents workers at the VA's Central Office)

Bring any homemade signs to express to Congress your feelings about the shutdown.

I've applied for a permit to hold the Rally.  

* Federal employees may attend this Rally if they are:

- in a furlough status;

- taking annual leave; or

- attending during their regular 30-minute lunch period.

Please note that furlough–exempted employees (those still working due to continued funding) should take annual leave if they plan to attend for longer than the 30-minute lunch period.  Furlough–excepted employees cannot take annual leave, but may still attend during their regular lunch period.

Come help make this a successful Rally!!  We look forward to seeing you on Friday!!

 
If you are in DC and are able to attend, please do so in solidarity with those who are furloughed.  This rally is an excellent start, and I would like to see a more proactive push from the AFGE national leadership.  Let's set up some picket lines and burn barrels near the Capitol and House office buildings.  It's time to take the fight to them and put some real pressure on them to stop this insanity.

In Solidarity,

Joseph

 

Why The Federal Pay Freeze Is Clintonian Triangulation, And Why Having a Union Contract Matters

This past week, the White House announced a proposal to freeze all federal employees for two years, with the exception of active duty military personnel.  This seems eerily similar to President Clinton's behavior after the massive losses in 1994.  Obama, like Clinton, is making a foolhardy attempt to prove that his "Presidency still has relevance," and is proposing this pay freeze in order to beat the GOP to their own position.  This makes me wonder if Dick Morris is hiding out somewhere at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

My problem with this proposed freeze is that there is a better solution if President Obama wanted to institute a freeze while sparing the middle-class federal workers - Institute the pay freeze, with an exemption for employees making under $50k.  Since federal pay increases are based upon percentage of salary(I received .30 an hour last year), the real money savings are on the overpaid management salaries.  For instance, cutting the President's salary from $400k to $200k for one year would save more money than freezing 320 employees with my salary.  Cutting the salary of one member of the House of Representatives from $177k to $100k for one year is the equivalent of freezing over 160 federal employees with my salary.  There are 435 members of the House of Representatives.  Drop their salaries for a year to $100k(still overpaid), and you have the equivalent of  freezing the salaries of nearly 54k federal employees making under $50k.

So what good is a union contract if they are going to freeze federal pay?  Our union contract guarantees our longevity and performance-based pay increases.  This safeguards us from instances like this when we become a political football.  Without our union contract, we would almost certainly have all pay increases frozen.  Before we kick and scream at our union leaders for a federal freeze that they are already fighting against, we should thank the members of the bargaining committee from the last contract negotiations.

In Solidarity,

Joseph