On June 24, 2014, all bargaining unit employees should have
received an e-mail from NTEU280 President Amer Al-Mudallal asking them to take
a very brief survey about working hours.
The subject of the e-mail is “Survey to Help NTEU Preserve Flexible
Working Hours.” (If you are a BUE and
have not received that survey, please contact us and we will get it to you
right away! It will take you only a
couple minutes to complete!)
In recent months, we at the union have heard of EPA managers
who have been acting to restrict employee work schedules, including informing
employees who had previously worked past 6 p.m. that they can no longer have
their longstanding work schedules. We
want to know how widespread the problem is, and how important being able to
work before 6 a.m. or after 6 p.m. is to our employees. So far, we have received a high response rate
to the survey. We would like to hear
from every single employee in the bargaining unit.
It is interesting to note that, a day earlier, on June 23,
2014, President Obama issued a memorandum to all Department and Agency heads directing them to take certain steps to
expand access to workplace flexibilities, including in work schedules. The President noted that the “Federal
Government must also identify and eliminate any arbitrary or unnecessary
barriers or limitations to the use of these flexibilities and develop new
strategies consistent with statute and agency mission to foster a more balanced
workplace.”
We applaud the President’s directive and hope that EPA management
will embrace it as far as accommodating different work schedules and expanding
the availability of telework. We at the
union are acutely aware that EPA has slipped down in the Federal Viewpoint
Survey results, losing ground to agencies such as US Patent & Trademark
Office and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which grant employees greater
flexibility in work hours and telework.
We want to ensure that EPA’s management response to the President’s
direction is more helpful than, e.g., merely sending a mass mailer e-mail once
a year to tell employees telework exists (whether they can get it or not). Your union wants to see a substantive
response that includes expansion of work schedule options and encouragement of
telework. We applaud the President’s official recognition that work-life
balance is an important part of attracting and retaining a highly talented and
motivated work force.
Now more than ever,
your membership in NTEU280 matters. Together,
we can make a difference.
You can read the Presidential Memorandum here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/06/23/presidential-memorandum-enhancing-workplace-flexibilities-and-work-life-.
If you are not yet a member of NTEU280 and wish to join us,
please fill out an 1187 and get it to a chapter representative (you can get an
1187 here: https://www.nteu.org/Documents/SF1187CMK.pdf). Remember, we are currently running a limited
time $100 reduction in dues offer for new members (http://nteu280fishbowl.blogspot.com/2014/06/2014-summer-membership-drive.html)!
