EEOC Union Condemns Drastic $23.7M Budget Cut to Civil Rights Enforcement in #MeToo Era

by: American Federation for Government Employees

Washington, D.C. - March 21, 2019 - (The Ponder News) -- President Trump’s proposed budget for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1 would slash the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s historically low budget by $23.7 million, which will make it harder for workers facing discrimination to get the help they need, the union representing EEOC workers said today.

“The EEOC enforces federal laws barring workplace discrimination, including sexual harassment, and cutting our budget frustrates those efforts,” said Gabrielle Martin, president of American Federation of Government Employees Council 216, the National Council of EEOC Locals. “Victims of workplace discrimination will feel the punch of this cut when they can’t get an appointment or an investigation of their complaint.”

The administration is proposing to slash EEOC’s current budget from $379.5 million to $355.8 million in fiscal 2020, even while the agency is facing rising workloads. EEOC had a backlog of 49,608 cases in fiscal year 2018, and cases continued to pile up while EEOC was closed during the 35-day shutdown. It takes workers months to get an appointment with EEOC and over an hour to reach a live person by telephone. EEOC’s workload this year included 200,000 inquiries, 76,418 charges, 40,000 interviews, and 105,600 calls.

Sexual harassment claims were up 13.6 percent in 2018. While Congress modestly increased EEOC’s budget in response to the #MeToo movement, the agency still has not been able to keep up with demand. Last year, the EEOC’s workforce dropped below 2,000 employees for the first time since before 1980. The president’s budget plan would slash another 180 positions, including mediators, judges, intake representatives, and 50 investigators. The agency’s budget justification concedes there will be a “steady rise in pending inventory” as “there will be no replacement of staff.”

“In a time of rising awareness of sexual harassment in the workplace, it sends the entirely wrong message to cut funding and staff at the agency that handles those complaints,” Martin said.

One consequence of the massive workload and short staffing is a push by EEOC to swiftly close cases by tagging them as “C charges” under the agency’s triage system.

“Ravaging the budget will make matters worse,” Martin warns. “The vast majority of workers who come to EEOC for help receive a dismissal with a ‘right to sue’ letter and are left to find help on their own. Likewise, federal employees with discrimination complaints are affected by EEOC pressing a shrinking unit of administrative judges to hit unattainably high quotas by closing cases through summary judgement or without discovery.”

Martin called upon Congress, civil rights groups, and concerned citizens to take action. “Contact your lawmakers to save EEOC from drastic cuts. Email the EEOC to request a budget in line with its workload. Tweet #StopEEOCbudgetcut. The #MeToo era is not the time to slash EEOC’s budget.”

‘The Administration is Setting Us Up to Fail,’ says VA Workers Union

by American Federation for Government Employees

Washington, D.C. - February 23, 2019 - (The Ponder News) -- On Friday, February 15, the Department of Veterans Affairs quietly posted that the agency now has 48,985 unfilled vacancies – up nearly 4,000 since the VA started posting vacancy totals in August 2018. The muted rollout of the data – which is only tracked and posted because of a push for transparency from the American Federation of Government Employees – follows Secretary Robert Wilkie’s recent announcement that the Department is outsourcing care and funding from the already short-staffed and underfunded agency.

“It is unconscionable that Secretary Wilkie is starving the VA by leaving almost 49,000 positions unfilled– 42,790 of which are at the Veterans Health Administration,” said AFGE National President J. David Cox Sr. “As the Secretary recently said, the ‘VA is seeing more patients than ever before, more quickly than ever before, and Veterans are more satisfied with their care than they have been previously’ – which comes as the VHA has jumped from having 35,000 unfilled vacancies in October 2017 to nearly 43,000 today.”

Cox added, “With the outstanding work being done by VA medical centers across the country, why would anybody try to undermine them with short staffing or shifting funding to the private sector?”

Last month the VA announced new criteria for privatized care that will be simultaneously slower and inferior to the integrated and specialized care offered by the VA. Understaffing the VA is a slow-motion replacement of VA’s in-house care with private care that is demonstrably unable to deal with veterans’ unique needs. Workers, medical experts, and members of Congress raised concerns that the VA’s in-house funding and staffing challenges will be worsened by funneling more money into the private, for-profit sector, and questioned the lack of transparency around the development and implementation of expanding private care for veterans.

“This push for further privatization should not occur, and the MISSION Act should not be implemented under the current schedule unless and until the VA does a thorough analysis of the impact of privatization on the quality and cost of care,” said AFGE National Veterans Affairs Council President Alma Lee. Lee, who represents 250,000 workers at the VA, says there are alternative approaches that will improve care – namely increased funding and a commitment to achieving full-staffing inside the VA.

“While the administration is setting us up to fail so they can dismantle veterans’ preferred health care provider, there are thankfully allies in Congress who are working to ensure we can hire and retain the medical professionals we so desperately need,” said Lee.

In early February, Rep. Mark Takano of California, introduced H.R. 1133 – VA Employee Fairness Act – to restore equal workplace rights to VA Title 38 health care professionals. H.R. 1133 already has 27 co-sponsors, and in mid-February was introduced as companion legislation in the Senate by Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio.

“Veterans are provided the best quality and timely care when the VA workforce can thrive,” said Rep. Takano. “With more than 40,000 employee vacancies in the VHA alone, it is crucial to ensure that doctors, nurses, and other medical professional are equipped with the best tools to retain and recruit the best talent to serve veterans — this bill will help make that possible.”

“The nurses, physicians, and health care workers at our nation’s VA medical centers, many of whom are veterans themselves, are the best at what they do. When they are able to collectively bargain and have their voices heard in the workplace, care improves for veterans. At a time when Americans are working harder and earning less for the time they put in, we should be making it easier for all workers to advocate for better working conditions, which leads to better veteran services and care,” said Sen. Brown.

“Thank you to Rep. Mark Takano and Sen. Sherrod Brown for once again standing with the women and men who care for our nation’s veterans,” said Cox. “Without the ability to advocate for other health care employees working under stressful conditions, or the ability to advocate for better patient care, the VA is going to struggle to attract and retain the best and brightest in the medical field and veterans will be at greater risk. It’s essential that Congress pass the VA Employee Fairness Act as soon as possible, so we can stop losing the professionals we have and hire the workers we need to continue serving those who have borne the battle.”

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is the largest federal employee union, representing 700,000 workers in the federal government and the government of the District of Columbia.

Secretary Shulkin’s taxpayer-funded European vacation

Source: American Federation of Government Employees

American Federation of Government Employees National President J. David Cox Sr. released the following statement in response to a Washington Post report regarding Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin’s travel expenses:

“Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin should be ashamed of himself for traveling to Europe with his wife at taxpayers’ expense – especially as the VA grapples with funding shortfalls that undermine veterans’ care.

“Mr. Shulkin needs to explain to veterans who are waiting for doctors’ appointments how attending a Wimbledon tennis match, touring Westminster Abbey, and cruising along the River Thames with his wife helped them get treated faster.

“He also needs to explain to VA employees, many of whom are veterans, why he ordered a crackdown on their travel just two weeks before going on his taxpayer-funded European vacation. With 49,000 staffing vacancies to fill, our nation’s veterans and the Veterans Affairs staff deserve to know how Secretary Shulkin intends on improving services at the VA.

“President Trump came to Washington with a promise to drain the swamp. He needs to start by holding his own Cabinet officials accountable to the public they serve.”

AFGE responds to ruling in OPM data breach lawsuit

Source: American Federation of Government Employees

Washington, D.C. - September 22, 2017  (The Ponder News) -- American Federation of Government Employees released the following statement:

“Two years ago, nearly 22 million current and former federal employees, job applicants, and their family members had their most personal and sensitive information stolen from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in one of the largest cyberattacks in U.S. history. Everyone affected deserves to see that justice is served, and that’s why the American Federation of Government Employees was the first organization to sue the federal government over the data breach.

“AFGE brought in the California law firm of Girard Gibbs, one of the nation’s leading firms in the developing area of data breach law. The firm did a great job on behalf of our members. The judge’s unfortunate decision to dismiss AFGE’s case reflects an unduly narrow view of the rights of data breach victims. OPM failed to keep our most private and sensitive information from getting into the hands of Chinese hackers. We are deeply disappointed by the judge’s ruling in favor of OPM.

“AFGE is seriously evaluating all options to challenge this decision and will continue to fight on behalf of the millions of current, future, and retired federal employees and their family members whose lives were forever disrupted by this unprecedented data breach.”

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is the largest federal employee union, representing 700,000 workers in the federal government and the government of the District of Columbia.