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PICKET! May 27, 2008 - Download
"WE WON'T BACK DOWN" — The Documentary
On May 27, the day after Memorial Day, NTEU Chapter 247 staged a picket against IRS Austin Accounts Management. Ignoring a federal commitment to "family-friendly" policies, local management had demonstrated unusual callousness toward employees, attacking the right to alternative tours of duty and refusing to allow employees to use the leave that they had already earned.
In a mini-documentary of the event, "We Won't Back Down," Chapter 247 battles the unexpected intimidation of a Homeland Security officer (who threatens to "cite" the recalcitrant Chapter President), 96 degree heat, and management's attempt to chase away the media—all while laughing, chanting slogans, and enjoying live music…Austin, Texas-style!
When Contact Recording was rolled out to Austin Call Sites
in ACS and Accounts Management, Chapter 247 used the forum
of official briefings as an opportunity to inform employees
of the protection and benefits accorded them under the Letter
of Understanding negotiated between national NTEU and the
IRS.
Chapter 247 met with management representatives in Compliance
and Accounts Management in order to hammer out the Questions
and Answers that would be distributed to employees during
the implementation of the new technology. Contact Recording,
which enables managers to listen to playbacks of telephone
conversations between employees and taxpayers long after the
calls take place, can have a significant impact on evaluations
and other working conditions.
Chapter 247 was determined to see that local management were
on the same page as the union in their understanding of the
LOU negotiated nationally. This is an example of management
working in good faith at the local level with NTEU for the
betterment of employee rights, for the efficiency of the IRS,
and for the benefit of taxpayers. In other words: Win/Win/Win.
June 2003
Volume LX, Number 4 CHAPTER 247 CONDUCTS PICKET LINE OVER IRS SHIFT CHANGES
Despite an early-morning threat of rain, members of NTEU Chapter
247 at the IRS Austin Compliance Center took advantage of
an opportunity to send a strong and important message to local
IRS management that it is about to take a step that will hurt
both employees and taxpayers.
In early June, more than 100 Chapter 247 members took part
at various times during a two-hour informational picket at
the center to protest the dropping of the night shift and
the forced movement of employees to the center’s day
or swing shifts. Some members took annual leave to participate
in the event; others used their break time or lunch period
to march, chant and carry signs opposed to the decision.
“There was a lot of enthusiasm” on the picket
line, said Chapter 247 President Eddie Walker. The event drew
a variety of local print and television news coverage, as
well as the support of drivers who honked their horns as they
passed the demonstration.
The message to Austin IRS management was that its plan is
unnecessary and unwise, and will disrupt people’s lives,
Walker said. The night shift employees provide taxpayer assistance,
including helping set up tax payment arrangements.
If the agency goes ahead with its plan, scheduled to take
effect on July 14, Walker said the chapter intends to file
a mass grievance on behalf of the 51 affected employees. The
unilateral decision to end the night shift would violate both
NTEU’s and the chapter’s alternative work schedule
(AWS) agreements, which have been in place since early 1996.
The NTEU-IRS national labor agreement provides for supplemental
agreements reflecting local conditions and needs.
Walker sharply criticized the decision to drop the night
shift, and particularly so in light of an earlier move by
IRS Austin management that forced 80 day-shift employees with
start times prior to 8 a.m. to change to later work shift
starting times. The union filed a mass grievance in that case,
which is now headed for arbitration.
The chapter president said that if the agency believes it
needs additional employees at certain hours of the day, it
should work with the union to implement a Chapter 247-proposed
program of voluntary transfers to that shift. That, he said,
“certainly would improve” morale at Austin. The
agency rejected the union proposal.
The best long-term solution, Walker said, is for the IRS
to hire any needed employees on the day shift. Doing so would
permit present night-shift workers to continue serving taxpayers
during the evening hours while allowing them to meet their
family obligations. These include child care and, in some
cases, the need to care for elderly parents during the day.
In addition, some night shift workers at Austin, as elsewhere,
work second jobs during the day. A forced change in their
work shifts, the Chapter 247 president said, will present
them with the choice of having to quit one or the other of
their jobs.
ACS Advisory Council Stress Program
Chapter 247 and the ACS operation spent six
months confronting
the issues causing stress among ACS employees and constructing
a program to
tackle the problems head on. The effort goes beyond the traditional,
superficial
attempts at combatting stress, such as using motivational
speakers and
videos,, and moves ACS ahead of other operations.
Convinced that stress can adversely affect both employees
and business
results, NTEU and management designated the ACS Advisory Council—consisting
of
employees selected by NTEU, teamed with managers—to
undertake the challenge of
reducing stress by directly attacking its causes.
The Advisory Council began its mission by creating and distributing
a survey
that solicited ACS Collection Representatives (CRs) for their
opinions, and
invited them to contribute solutions. The Council reviewed
the surveys, debated the
issues, and submitted recommendations that were rolled
out to all
employees by NTEU and management, and were implemented
through a joint effort.
Chapter 247 hopes that the effort in ACS will serve as a model
to tackle
stress in other operations, so that employees will be able
to concentrate on
their jobs first, rather than stress.
Chapter 247 Executive Vice President Julia Miller (left) and Assistant Chief
Steward Ladan Makkouk (second from right) aid and abet Chapter 52 in its
successful battle on behalf of IRS employees and the American taxpayer.
Now-retired Chapter 52 President Tom Jones led his members in a week-long rally and informational picket outside the Rundberg Square Taxpayer Assistance Center (TAC) in Austin, as part of a successful nationwide effort by NTEU to stop the shutdown of 68 TACs by the IRS. Chapter 247 does not represent TAC employees—but that did not stop its members from pitching in to help its sister chapter.
As Tom Jones wrote in a letter to NTEU National President Colleen Kelley, "Chapter 247's stewards stepped up to the plate on short notice and took leave to support their brothers in Chapter 52…We…truly appreciate the support they provided us not only morally, but more importantly, physically walking a picket line in 95 degree plus temperatures, and a very typical humid South Texas summer."
Tom continued, "During this week we set a goal of gathering at least 100 signatures a day on the petitions for the public to sign. With the help of Chapter 247 we far exceeded our goal and collected over 200 a day. We are on our way to collecting over a thousand signatures. Over 95 percent of the TAC customers are signing the petition and asking their family members, neighbors, and friends to come down and sign. They are also thanking us for fighting for them. This could not have happened without the support of Chapter 247."
We couldn't agree with Tom Jones more when he wrote, "I know that each and every one of my stewards and members learned that cooperation between chapters is more that just words on a piece of paper."
