Back to Tidbits   Local 12 Weekly Update The names identified are Local 12 Representatives who volunteer to represent you, Local 12 Bargaining Unit employees, in these issues. They are the foundation of this Union! Want to get involved? Please contact the Union Office, 476-4334.   Bargaining  Comp Time for Travel:  Federal employees can now earn a new form of comp time known as compensatory time for travel which can accrue for airport waits and driving time when in a travel status. Things that will not be covered are normal commute times (if it takes you an hour to get to work, and an hour to get to the airport, this time is not compensable), bona fide meal periods, and time when an employee is free to rest, sleep, or otherwise use for his/her own purposes. This new comp time is not usually available as a benefit in the private sector and might be as another benefit that attracts and retain top talent within the federal government. OPM, several unions, and various members of Congress support the new rules. Unused comp time for travel is forfeited if not used within 26 pay periods or if the employee is separated from the agency. Local 12 is currently in bargaining on this issue in order to ensure any earned comp for travel can be used before it expires. From The Contract  From Article 12 -- Travel:  Many times supervisors will schedule employees to travel on the weekend, rather than Friday or Monday. There may be a business need for this, but often the requirement is from habit or custom. Travel on a non-workday brings it’s own set of issues. Ask your supervisor about the possibility of traveling on Friday or Monday, rather than the weekend. If there is no real business need, your contract allows you to insist on traveling on a regularly scheduled workday. §1207 TRAVEL SCHEDULE.  The EMPLOYER will make every effort to schedule or allow the scheduling of necessary travel time to and from a TDY assignment within an employee’s regularly scheduled tour of duty. Travel time outside normal working hours will be compensated if it can be authorized in accordance with applicable regulations. To the maximum extent practicable, the EMPLOYER agrees to schedule travel so that when an employee travels outside the employee’s regularly scheduled work shift, there shall be an interval of not less than ten hours between completion of travel and the time expected to report for work. Completion of travel is normally the time the employee departs the commercial carrier, plus a reasonable time to obtain baggage and travel to the assigned lodging by the most direct route. If employees are required to travel more than fourteen continuous hours, a rest period may be authorized in accordance with the JTR. If an in-travel rest period cannot be scheduled on such long trips, the normal 10-hour rest period shall be extended to twelve hours if possible. Holiday Closure The shipyard will be closed the week of December 25 for the holidays. December 26 and January 2 are Federal holidays, and annual leave, leave without pay, or earned compensatory time can be used for the closure days of December 27, 28, 29, and 30. Leave without pay on these four days will need to be requested in writing. Training Interest Based Bargaining: Several of our reps attended a special training on interest-based bargaining this past week. The training was given by the FLRA. The “nugget” in this training is the example of two men who need all of the fruit from a special “only one of its kind” tree. This tree only bears fruit once every 30 years, and it would take 40 years from the day of it’s planting for another tree of this kind to reach fruit-bearing maturity. Mr. A needs the fruit because it contains an ingredient that will cure childhood leukemia. Mr. B needs the fruit because it contains an ingredient that will cure all other cancers except childhood leukemia. The quantity of fruit on the tree is just exactly the amount required for the production of either one of these cures, but only one. By employing interest based bargaining, both men will explore each other’s interest in the fruit, and arrive at the source of what each of their interests are. Mr. A, it turns out, needs the seeds, and Mr. B needs the peel. In the past we have used a consensus approach in bargaining. That is to say, we bargained to see what each party was willing to give up and/or willing to live with. Interest based bargaining is bargaining in which the goal is for each party to walk away from the table with 100 percent of what they need. Interest based bargaining focuses on searching for the source of each other’s needs. Many times the discovery of these sources eliminates the conflict in need. Defending Your Union Election: Sheila Perez and I attended training this week on how to defend a union election. The “nugget” from this training is if you are running a union election, and you either have questions about your process or anticipate problems with your process or an adversarial party, get the Department of Labor involved right up front. They are willing to give advice. In the event your election is challenged and it ends up in their forum, they already have some background on the issue, and an established working relationship with union election officials. This might go a long way toward dismissing the challenge or mitigating the effect if the challenge is upheld. Supervisor Training on Our New Contract: This week, all Local 12 reps have been attending at least one of the many contract training sessions for supervisors that Human Resources is conducting. Reps attended the same sessions as those attended by supervisors in their respective areas. Local 12 Office Staff : Bob Steinmetz, President 479-2463 Elaine Wrightson, Office Manager 476-4334 Katy McKinney, Chief Rep 476-4862 Need some help establishing an AWS? Contact Katy Have a security question or issue? Contact Security POC, Mike Dunn Back to Tidbits