Linda Ward-Smith: He tried to get our agreement. And it was with these executive orders that they were implemented in January 2020, which removed us from our offices. Now it does not allow us to file complaints and fight for our members and enforce the treaty, as we once did. It is the same – these implementing regulations have somehow weakened the union. And there`s only a description of what it will look like if you don`t have a contract. And right now, we`re fighting and trying to keep enforcing the treaty, but they`re taking some of those tools with these executive orders. So imagine that we do not have a treaty that we have to enforce, because these orders are really just a light on the fact that if we do not have a contract, it will look like this without us being able to negotiate and negotiate fully on behalf of the staff. So the management feels that it has received kryptonite and more power over us, just the fact that these executive orders have been implemented. It just shows us, one way or another, what it will look like in the world without a fair treaty, solely on the basis of these orders that have been implemented. I think we are no longer going to the table and negotiating as before. We no longer have work management meetings. It is no longer a partnership. In fact, it`s right now, “We`re saying it, it`s going to be,” and that`s what it is.
“The failure to cover a large number of topics in the collective labour agreement puts the parties in a permanent bargaining state, as there is a legal obligation to bargain for uninsed matters,” the union wrote. “Such an outcome is inefficient, inefficient and costly. In addition, failure to cover issues in the agreement requires each body to adopt its own guidelines, which will lead to inconsistencies. “Collective bargaining between the Department of Veterans Affairs and the American Federation of Government Employees has stalled for more than a year and the COVID-19 pandemic, which has crippled parts of the country and increased workload and risks for health professionals, has only exacerbated differences between agency management and unions over better management of federal personnel. Linda Ward-Smith: In North Las Vegas, we have about 3,000 employees and I`m introducing you. Our negotiating team was made up of members from across the United States. So I was chosen from about 12 members, and I was fortunate to be an assistant, so I`m very grateful. At the federal level, we have more than 200,000 members whom we represent in the VA.
So these are the people for whom we are trying to negotiate a fair treaty. The Federal Service Impasses Panel (FSIP), made up of 10 president-appointees who settle deadlocks in negotiations between agencies and unions, significantly modified the agreement in its Nov. 5 decision, supposedly to align the labor agreement with several Trump administration implementing regulations that govern federal personnel. After nearly a year of controversial negotiations and disagreements, the Federal Service Impasses Panel has made a long-awaited decision in the ongoing collective bargaining dispute between the Department of Veterans Affairs and the American Federation of Government Employees. While a union representing veterans` department employees is advancing a lawsuit that challenges the constitutionality of the president`s appointment of members of an agency tasked with settling class disputes, it is waging a war on two fronts. . . .