NFFE Elected to Represent Professional Employees at Forest Service Regional Office
Monday, February 2, 2009(National Federation of Federal Employees)
Milwaukee,
WI - Last week,
professional employees at the U.S. Forest
Service’s Eastern Region Regional Office,
located in Milwaukee, WI, chose NFFE as their
exclusive bargaining representative. The
non-professional employees working from the
office were already represented by NFFE Local
2165 prior to the election process, but the
local now represents both the professional and
non-professional employees who work in that
office and at remote locations.
The inclusion of the
professional employees added 43 potential new
members to the bargaining unit.
Professional employees at the local hold a wide
variety of positions within the Forest Service,
including soil scientists, engineers,
foresters, hydrologists, and fire management
officials.
The successful expansion
of Local 2165 resulted from several months of
hard work. The election petition was
submitted to the Federal Labor Relations
Authority (FLRA) in October, 2008, while NFFE’s
National Convention was taking place nearby in
Milwaukee. Forest Service management
officials disputed the size of the bargaining
unit with the FLRA, which oversees
representational elections, but due to the
diligence of several union representatives,
NFFE prevailed in holding the unit size at
43.
A number of individuals deserve credit for bringing union representation to the professional employees at Local 2165. This election would not have been possible without the dedication of Local 2165 Steward Richard Hart, Forest Service Council Region 9 Vice President and NFFE National Vice President Jozef Drozdowski, and NFFE Business Representative Gary Johanson, among others. Thank you for your hard work, and congratulations on a successful campaign!