Mark McDonald, President AFGE Local 2040

PAL: DFAS has agreed to meet with a Council Negotiation team to resolve the ULP and negotiate the DFAS-wide PAL program. PAL is a internal placement program that DFAS wants to use to avoid invoking RIF’s. I will be TDY 3-7 August on to negotiate this issue. Please send me your concerns about this program before close of business Friday 1 August 2003.

March Blizzard Union Grievance: The membership authorized the Local to expend funds in pursuit of this grievance. An arbitrator has been selected. The hearing date is set for November 2003.

Grievance on Excessive Discipline: A year ago (July 2003) the membership voted to fund an arbitration case dealing with excessive discipline. Though I met with the agency to select the arbitrator a year ago in August, the agency has not yet set a date with the arbitrator or responded to the settlement offers. The Local will continue to pursue this case.

I have had a few chats with managers about them loosing their parking, please understand that this was NOT the Union’s idea nor can the Union bargain on behalf of management. This was a DFAS management initiative, you need to talk with them.

New Guard Contract: As you may have noticed a new company took over the guard contract in July. Lots of new faces. Please be patient as they learn how things work here. If you have a problem, please do your best to diffuse the situation and report the problem to Steve Lobato or Greg Coonfare.

Parking Decal Validation: DFAS needs to validate the DoD stickers on our cars. If the sticker on your car is good (numbers etc. are visible) then you will not have to replace the sticker. There will be a Buckley representative to issue the new sticker to replace the Denver center one we now have under the DoD Sticker. Management will work up a schedule and appoint POC’s in the work areas to help us get this done.

Election: Per the Local’s constitution, when Stephen Lobato resigned from office of Trustee it became necessary to elect a new Trustee. A election committee was formed in May and then reformed in June due to one committee member having to drop due to work issues. The election committee sent out notice of nominations and election scheduled for the July 15, 2003 meeting. At that meeting Mr. Kelvin Booker was nominated along with Mr. Francisco Terrones. Mr. Booker was elected to the Office of Trustee and sworn in at the meeting.

Thanks to the members of the election committee for their hard work!

ULPs: As was mentioned in the Council newsletter, the FLRA has found DFAS to be in violation of statues governing the responsibility to negotiate with the Union. For us in Denver it effects EBiz and the Career Learning Center (CLC). It is my hope that the resources (books, periodicals, regulations and help) will be restored to us at the end of the federal trial.

Time to Meet with Your Union: Several employees have told me that they have been told that they can only meet with the Union during non-duty hours. This is not true. You are required to notify your supervisor that you need time to meet and tell them about how long you think it might take. The supervisor will then either agree to the time frame or work with you on another time frame for that day.

Next Membership Meeting: All dues paying members are invited to participate in the monthly membership meetings. The next meeting will be on 19 August 2003 at 11:00am in the Weber Auditorium. Lunch for members will be provided.