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GAO employees vote to form 1st labor union in agency history |
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By Karissa Marcum
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Posted: 09/21/07 07:08 PM [ET] |
Government Accountability Office (GAO) employees voted to form a labor union Wednesday, electing the first guild in the agency’s 86-year history.
“GAO’s analysts banded together to help restore GAO’s greatness. We declared our independence,” Robert Kershaw, a senior analyst who voted in favor of the union, said.
Analysts voted 897-445 for a union to be represented by the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), a national organization representing local unions.
Comptroller David Walker released a statement that said all employees in the bargaining unit will be represented by IFPTE and stressed that GAO management would bargain “in good faith.” He added that the tally is unofficial; GAO spokeswoman Susan Becker said the Personnel Appeals Board (PAB) has five days to certify the numbers.
Lise Levie was one of the union’s four official election observers at Wednesday’s vote count. “We’re looking forward to a great working relationship with Comptroller General David Walker. The union will help us to make GAO a true model agency,” she said.
More than 1,800 were eligible to vote, including analysts working in the Washington headquarters who voted by manual ballot. Field-office employees, working nationwide, voted by mail ballot.
The next steps will be to elect a council, write a constitution, determine bargaining priorities and negotiate with management for a first contract. “The involvement of the national union will likely be limited. The analysts at GAO are experts at creating efficient organizations,” IFPTE President Greg Junemann said.
Union organizers said the union was necessary after changes in personnel policies divided analysts into salary “bands,” eliminating cost-of-living increases for many and labeling some workers as “over market” and reducing their salaries.
Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.), a member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, agreed that factors such as the “band split” contributed “to a feeling among GAO employees to have a union.”
GAO management and union officials had been at odds over the specifics of the bargaining unit for the election. At one point, IFPTE filed an unfair-labor charge against Walker, although it later was withdrawn.
In recent weeks, union officials have released videos urging employees to “band together” in favor of a union. Organizers also have held brown-bag lunches to give analysts opportunities to ask questions.
IFPTE Secretary-Treasurer Paul Shearon, who heads up the union’s organizing efforts, said, “The analysts at GAO are very proud of the work they do and the majority sent a messsage today that the union is a vehicle to move the agency forward and do its important work better.” |
