John Gage wins third term as AFGE president
August 28th, 2009 | Unions | Posted by Steve Losey
The American Federation of Government Employees yesterday re-elected John Gage to a third three-year term as national president.
“There is much to do on behalf of federal workers,” Gage told delegates to AFGE’s national convention in Reno after he was sworn in Aug. 27. “Our focus is now on the midterm congressional elections and making sure the American people have the public services they deserve. We plan to help elect a Congress with men and women who are actually responsive to the needs of the American people, particularly the nation’s working families.”
Delegates also re-elected J. David Cox as national secretary-treasurer, and chose Augusta Thomas to be their new national vice president for women’s and fair practices department. Andrea Brooks, AFGE’s former national vice president, passed away on April 26.
'Frustrated' unions say failure to kill NSPS 'illogical,' 'baffling'
August 25th, 2009 | Pay & Benefits | Posted by Steve Losey
The American Federation of Government Employees wasted no time in firing back at the Defense Business Board task group’s final report on the National Security Personnel System, and its recommendation to rebuild — but not abolish — the controversial system. In a letter sent to the task group less than an hour after the report was posted online, AFGE President John Gage said the decision to drastically reform NSPS left the union “perplexed, angered and frustrated:”
The recommendation to keep NSPS is illogical and does not flow from your findings. The task group has miscalculated the intensity of hatred toward this system. [...] We wonder why DoD isn’t holding those responsible for NSPS accountable and terminating them for this colossal failure. Instead, the task group asks them to try again, while the employees continue to suffer and many good employees lose money. [...]
The evidence of complete failure and serious injustice to many loyal, hard-working DoD employees is overwhelming. It leads to no other conclusion that termination.
Tags: AFGE, National Security Personnel System, NFFE, pay for performance
Outsourcing: AFGE Strikes Back!
June 4th, 2009 | Uncategorized | Posted by Elise Castelli
 Update: AFGE has also sent yours truly this point-by-point refutation of industry’s opposition to the CLEAN UP Act.
We told you earlier today about a Republican bill introduced yesterday to promote the outsourcing of commercial work performed by federal employees.
Now enter the American Federation of Government Employees, a privatization foe, announcing it has taken “its contracting out reform campaign to the House of Representatives.”
In a June 4 news release, union boss John Gage applauded the introduction of Mikulski’s CLEAN UP Act in the House by Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md.Â
Gage said:
The CLEAN UP Act is vital to any serious effort to save taxpayer dollars and restore integrity to the federal procurement process…The bill calls on the Obama administration to correct problems in the Office of Management and Budget’s privatization process that have been identified by the Government Accountability Office, the Department of Defense Inspector General, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO), and others, before again using the A-76 circular.
Tags: A-76, AFGE, Barbara Mikulksi, insourcing, John Gage, John Sarbanes, John Thune, outsourcing, privitization
Republicans: If you want to "CLEAN UP" government, open a phonebook
June 4th, 2009 | Congress Procurement Workplace | Posted by Elise Castelli
In April, several senate Democrats, led by Maryland’s Barbara Mikulski, introduced a bill to convert some contracted work to federal performance and otherwise prevent the government from competing federal jobs with the private sector.
Mikulski’s “CLEAN UP Act” – short for “Correction of Longstanding Errors in Agencies Unsustainable Procurements Act” – drew applause from unions and criticism from industry groups. But now Senate Republicans are getting in on the act with their own bill designed to do the opposite.
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., introduced the “Freedom From Government Competition Act” yesterday. The bill mandates federal agencies rely on the private sector for commercially available goods and services.
The bill would codify what Thune calls the “yellow pages test,” meaning if government employees perform tasks found in the phonebook, then agencies should compete those jobs with the private sector.
Thune said in a statement:
This bill would ensure the government isn’t involving itself in areas that duplicate products and services that are available in the private sector and in doing so protecting taxpayer interests. This legislation would give private companies the chance to do the work which has been shown to save taxpayer money.
However, Thune’s news release also claims the bill will “not mandate the privatization of any federal service and would protect those activities which are inherently governmental, such as certain national defense and homeland security functions, prosecutions, foreign policy and activities to bind the United States to take or not to take some action by contract, policy, regulation, authorization, or order.”
Thune’s co-sponsors on the legislation are Senators James Inhofe, R-Okla., Pat Roberts, R-Kan., Sam Brownback, R-Kan. and David Vitter, R-La.
Tags: A-76, AFGE, Barbara Mikulski, insourcing, John Thune, outsourcing, privitization, Senate
Congress could throw out outsourcing
February 25th, 2009 | 2009 Budget Congress HR Management Procurement | Posted by Elise Castelli
A provision in the omnibus spending bill could halt public-private job competitions for federal work.
The provision introduced by Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., would temporarily suspended public-private competitions for federal employees’ jobs conducted under Office of Management and Budget Circular A-76.
Other bill provisions indroduced by the lawmakers would:
- Require agencies insource work currently performed by contractors and to allow federal employees to perform new work.
- Require agencies determine the size of their contractor workforces.
- Prevent agencies from outsourcing functions performed by 10 or fewer employees without holding a competition.
The American Federation of Government Employees, which backed similar provisions in previous appropriations bills, applauded the lawmakers. AFGE President John Gage said:
The A-76 process is clearly broken…The provisions introduced by Sen. Durbin and Rep. Serrano will end years of privatization studies that never saved taxpayer money and were skewed to promote the use of contractors over federal employees.
According to OMB’s May 2008 report on competitive sourcing, however, federal employees won more than 83 percent of the competitions held between fiscal years 2003 and 2007.
The report also claims the government saved $7 billion from the competitions held during that time period because of management efficiencies gained in streamlining how federal work is performed. The savings estimates are often questioned by Congress and employee unions because the estimates do not include the planning costs for the competitions.
Tags: A-76, AFGE, insourcing, outsourcing
Quote of the Day: Election edition
November 5th, 2008 | Transition | Posted by Steve Losey
All the things we’ve been moaning about for the last eight years, now we have to correct.
- A noticeably hoarse John Gage, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, in a Nov. 5 conference call with reporters. Gage spoke from Chicago, where he and other supporters of President-elect Barack Obama celebrated the Democrats’ Nov. 4 victory.
Tags: AFGE, Barack Obama