National President Dougan Calls for Immediate Release of Agency Shutdown Contingency Plans in Letter to Obama

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Cory Bythrow, Communications Director
Phone: (202) 216-4458

Washington, D.C. – This afternoon, NFFE National President William R. Dougan penned a letter to President Obama and OMB Deputy Director for Management Jeffrey Zients requesting the immediate release of agency contingency plans, in light of a recent memo from Zients to agency leadership to accelerate preparations for a shutdown.

Full body of President Dougan’s letter follows:

“On behalf of the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), and the 110,000 federal workers our union represents throughout the United States and abroad, I would like to request the immediate release of agency shutdown contingency plans to federal employees’ union representatives.

Federal unions asked for copies of these plans during the March 16 meeting of the National Council on Federal Labor Management Relations. We were told by OMB Deputy Director for Management Jeffrey Zients at that meeting that agency plans were in various stages of being written and/or being reviewed for consistency by OMB, and that they would be made available to unions and employees “when a government shutdown was imminent.”

In light of Zients’ April 4 memo instructing senior administration officials to share their contingency plans with senior management personnel, it appears that time has come. In the memo he states, “good management requires that we continue contingency planning for an orderly shutdown should the negotiations not be completed by the end of the current CR this coming Friday, April 8th at midnight.” We agree with this statement.

With a potential government shutdown just days away, it is imperative that federal employees and their union representatives gain access to these documents. It is detrimental to the morale and overall well-being of the workforce to withhold these plans any longer. Now is the time to share these plans with the hardworking federal employees who will be impacted the most by a government shutdown.

We respectfully request that these documents be made immediately available to NFFE and the other unions which represent federal employees.”

Full Letter (PDF): http://www.nffe.org/ht/a/GetDocumentAction/i/31996