New Year, New Opportunities
This past year was a time of great progress and achievement for NFFE and its members. We have seen vast improvements in our organizing, stepped up our communications and secured a series of significant legislative victories.
Now, with 2010 in full swing, we are looking to build on these successes and bring our union to even greater heights. In this spirit, I would like to share with you some of the many priorities that NFFE will pursue as 2010 continues to unfold.
In the early days of this year, we announced the formation of the Federal Workers Alliance (FWA), a coalition of 21 unions representing federal workers. FWA members will work together in solidarity to promote favorable legislation and personnel policies for the more than 300,000 combined federal employees it represents. Working side by side with our union brothers and sisters on these matters benefits us all.
Another important relationship we are looking to cultivate is that between labor and management at the many agencies we represent. We intend to play a very active role in the formation of new agency partnership councils. Our goal is to build a strong foundation for robust and productive dialogue to take place between workers and their managers.
We have an ambitious legislative agenda for 2010. Among our numerous legislative priorities this year, we hope to secure pay parity between military and civilian employees, establish a paid parental leave benefit, and to obtain the benefits that many temporary federal employees are denied.
Lastly, NFFE will continue to focus on organizing and engaging new members. With the new Organizing Strategic Plan in motion, we are committing significant time and resources to growing our union. By year's end we anticipate greater growth in members than we experienced in 2009.
With your help, I am looking forward to making 2010 the best year ever to be a NFFE member.
William R. Dougan
National President Dougan Talks the Issues with USDA Leadership
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
(National Federation of Federal Employees)
Last Thursday, NFFE
National President William R. Dougan sat down
with key Department leadership at the U.S.
Department of Agriculture in Washington, DC, to
discuss key issues affecting USDA employees
across the country.
Meeting with
Undersecretary for Natural Resources and
Environment Jay Jensen, Chief of Staff to the
USDA Secretary, John Norris, and a number of
senior policy advisors, Dougan extended a hand
of cooperation to agency leadership, urging the
development of a labor-management partnership
council, among other
issues.
“It’s the federal
employees out in the field and the offices that
are the key to accomplishing the work of USDA
and its agencies, and their interests should be
the primary consideration in any agency
decision-making,” said Dougan. “I assured them
that NFFE’s members stand ready to work with
USDA to make sure that the agency’s mission is
carried out.”
Turning his attention to
hiring practices, Dougan urged agency leaders
to end the preference of contractors over
federal employees in federal stimulus projects.
He insisted further that they put a stop to the
unfair classification of many wildland
firefighter positions, a practice which
threatens to reduce the expertise of the fire
organization and could negatively impact
employment of workers in those positions.
“Overall, the USDA
leadership was very receptive to our ideas,”
said Dougan. “They promised to keep us in the
loop on important agency initiatives and work
with us as we confront the many challenges
facing the Department and its
employees.”
