AFGE Council 238 is committed to ensuring that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is recognized as the nation’s leader in environmental education, research and science, and regains its place as the world leader in environmental protection.  At this juncture, the Council is concerned about the failure of the Agency to adhere to the recommendations of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), particularly its most recent report on the failure of EPA to implement workload and workforce analysis planning.  Related to the above concern, is the failure of EPA to aggressively recruit and hire additional employees to assist in the on-going work of the Agency, particularly the additional work resulting from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  To summarize, AFGE Council 238 believes that EPA needs to: Add more staff; Conduct workload and workforce analyses over the next two years to get a better handle on EPA’s staffing levels and how they relate to the budget; Address current problems with the Great Lakes National Program Office; and Improve its cadre of supervisors and
managers.