NFFE: Still no sign of shutdown plans
April 7th, 2011 | OMB | Posted by Stephen Losey
Gosh, Jeff, what's your rush?
It looks like the Obama administration is holding onto its shutdown plans until the last possible minute. Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director for Management Jeffrey Zients just told unions in a conference call that the plans would be released “within the next 24 hours,” according to Bill Dougan, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees.
Dougan is especially frustrated because Zients and Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry on Tuesday told unions that agencies would start releasing those plans as early as this morning. And at a press conference today, Zients told reporters the administration this morning ordered agencies to start notifying employees about shutdown plans and briefing unions and other stakeholders.
“I’m disappointed this is dragging on to the 11th hour,” Dougan said. “Twenty-four hours from now is essentially the end of the workday. Unions are running blind on what agencies have planned. It puts unions and employees in a bad spot, and it makes it much more difficult for employees to do the planning they need to do.”
Dougan said he suspects that by withholding the plans from unions, “it allows them to essentially control the message.” He wants to know how agencies are deciding which employees to furlough and which to retain, which he said is something unions want to negotiate over. “Yet we’re not being provided that info so it makes it impossible to negotiate.”
Dougan wouldn’t say whether he thinks that’s the administration’s motive for withholding the plans. But I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the case. The White House already has enough headaches dealing with House Republicans. I’m sure they don’t want to start an argument with unions when so much is at stake.
Tags: government shutdown