June 30, 2010

M E M O R A N D U M

TO:      IRS Chapter Presidents

RE:      National Labor-Management Relations Committee Meeting

SUMMARY:  On June 22, 2010, NTEU and the IRS held our second Labor-Management Relations Committee (LMRC) meeting under the new contract and new IRS leadership.

It is a good sign to see the second LMRC meeting get under way only a few months after the last one.  Both sides are hoping to create some momentum to achieve results that can be felt by the bargaining unit. 

Below is a brief summary of all the issues discussed, including “follow-up” items from the last LMRC meeting.  Six chapter presidents represented NTEU, along with Frank Ferris and Ken Moffett:  Glenda Powell (North Carolina), John Kelshaw (New Jersey), David Carrone (Louisiana), Ron Carbonneau (Andover), Mark Grimm (Iowa), and Robert Tremblay (Massachusetts).  About a half-dozen executives represented management.

Span of Control

While management put this issue on the agenda to tell us that it thought it was doing a good job of maintaining a ten to one ratio, NTEU pointed out that there are dozens of IRS managers who supervise less than five employees and hundreds who supervise less than ten.  We asked management to look at combining these very small groups.  NTEU also said the ten to one ratio is misleading because managers have been delegating some of their core duties to leads and secretaries or creating nonsupervisory, Management Analysts outside the bargaining unit to do management’s work.  NTEU argued that management should consider setting a goal of reducing management ranks by about 250 staff years so that more front line employees could be hired to deal with the enormous work inventories.

Managerial Burden

Management raised the issue of managerial burden, announcing that it will create a survey for managers to capture ideas for developing metrics to measure this concern.  NTEU said that it also has an interest in reducing managerial burden because most of it comes from the excessive number of reviews and reports that top executives require field managers to do.   Management said that it recognizes that when a national level executive asks for some information often lower-level executives will add on their own requests and the report quickly turns into a burden.  This is something it said it will try to avoid in the future.  Management also wants to replace group meetings with online briefings and similar gimmicks so first-line managers do not have to struggle to learn the details of many of the IRS’s changes.  We rejected that idea and told them that it is absurd to think managers should not be responsible for knowing the details of executive change initiatives that affect the bargaining unit.  NTEU said it is going to take a more aggressive role in leading discussions about managerial burden so that their supervisory work is not just passed on to unit employees, especially without any extra compensation.  The best solution is to reduce all the reports, reviews, and redundancy that plague managers and employees.  A final idea we put on the table is that perhaps management should bring in some outside body, such as GAO or TIGTA, to identify all the tasks that no one should have to perform.

In-Sourcing Jobs

NTEU reminded the IRS of the President’s executive order requiring agencies to try to bring contracted out work back into the agencies.  Management seemed surprised by our perspective and brushed the responsibility off on the Department of Treasury.  NTEU flat out disagreed with that interpretation.  We will ask the IRS to provide us with data on all contracting out agreements currently in force, e.g., the costs associated with each agreement over the past three to four years.  We will use this to support the President’s push to return work to federal employees.  Federal employees represent some of the hardest working individuals in the country, and most duties of the agency are better suited to stay in-house. 

Space Concerns

Geographically, there are only a few areas with significant space problems.  Most of the problems come from overstaffing offices with newly hired employees who get stuffed into conference rooms to work that way for months.  With hundreds of more new hires about to arrive between now and October, this is only going to get worse.  Furthermore, the People Track software used to manage space does not seem to be working because managers are not accurately reporting what is available.  NTEU proposed creation of a union-management “SWAT team” to tackle the offices with the most severe problems as soon as possible and management agreed to try it.  NTEU also told management that it would be formally proposing to put everyone in overcrowded offices on flexiplace until private workspaces can be found for everyone.  The agency was receptive to the idea, and NTEU will draft a proposal to ensure that this happens sooner rather than later.  NTEU also outlined other solutions it would soon ask to negotiate.  These would all kick in as soon as management overstaffed an office.

Protection of Employees

The tragedy at the Austin Service Center served as a stark and tragic reminder as to why the protection of IRS employees must always be at the top of NTEU’s priority list.  Management has recently agreed to create joint union-management oversight groups to examine changes being made system-wide in the IRS.  But, NTEU reiterated its desire for management to also ask local employees to identify the two or three most important safety improvements that could be made in their building.  While nationwide changes are very valuable, just as much can be achieved by also having a vigorous local approach to safety improvements.  The IRS has agreed to look into this.

Seasonal Employees Enrolled in and Eligible for FEHB

NTEU has always championed an increase in work hours for seasonal employees so they have access to health insurance.  As of now, thousands of seasonals eligible for FEHB do not enroll, and NTEU obtained data from management that will help us determine why.  If there is some obstacle that causes a lot of our members to go uninsured, we want to see what we can do for them. 

FOLLOW-UP ITEMS

Increasing Revenue Officer Career Ladders

NTEU had made it clear — multiple times — that it disagrees with management’s conclusion that the journey-level of Revenue Officers is properly a GS-9.  They all do far more complex work than GS-9 work, and the IRS will lose many of them when the economy turns around if it does not change this rule.  Management told us that after our last LMRC meeting it commissioned a Collection Process Study to look at the journey-level issue and other structural questions.  That work should be completed soon and once done, the parties will determine their next steps.  Hopefully, the study will support NTEU’s position, but if not, it will merely direct us along another path to get this done.

Career Ladders for Revenue Agents

The IRS provided NTEU with information requested at the last LMRC meeting showing that newly hired Revenue Agents (RAs) are being given a variety of career ladders.  Some noncompetitively top out at the GS-11, others at the 12, and still others at the 13.  There seems to be no logic to support these distinctions.  NTEU has filed for arbitration, and dates are currently being scheduled for early fall.  NTEU will continue to fight for the fair and equitable treatment of RAs across business units.

Management Accountability for Proven Discrimination

NTEU has been litigating more and more discrimination cases as it attempts to bring federal agencies, including the IRS, into compliance with the law’s requirement for a fair and equitable workplace, free from discrimination.  NTEU reiterated its belief that managers are not held accountable for decisions that find they violated the law or federal regulations.  Management said it had recently reexamined its accountability practices and that it agrees that managers who violate the law must be held accountable.  NTEU said it would be watching the discipline reports for evidence of that.

Reemployed Annuitants

While NTEU is opposed to using reemployed annuitants to do IRS work, the law gives management the right to rehire retirees for up to approximately 3,000 hours of work over three years.  So we have asked management to set up a database for retirees interested in returning to the IRS to support critical mission functions.  If they have to be here, then we at least want them objectively and fairly rehired.  These should not be mere plums passed out to favored folks. 

I will keep you informed of updates and happenings on the above agenda items.  And we will continue to use the LMRC process to address important issues for IRS employees.

Colleen M. Kelley

National President