Commentary

Thanks to all who have called and commented on the newsletter.

Chapter 207 will be sending newsletters more frequently than we have in the recent past. Hopefully we will meet the ambitious goal of getting a newsletter out at least once a week.

Your consideration is requested as we fine tune the newsletter process and work to provide you with meaningful stories. Recently we changed who completed the newsletter and we recognize that as we go through changes that there has been a real loss to keeping you informed about important topics. We will strive to do better and your patience is appreciated.

Breaking News - FDIC Notifies NTEU Of Intention To Run RIF in DIT and DRR - 350 Employees Might Be Affected

On Friday, March 4, 2005 FDIC formally notified NTEU, Chapter 207 (HQ) and Chapter 260 (Dallas) of a reduction-in-force planned for bargaining unit position in DIT and DRR. In accordance with Article 16 of the current term agreement the FDIC specified the reasons for the RIF. The letter and the full notification documents are available on the Chapter 207 website at http://www.nteu207.org/breaking_news.html.

On Friday Chapter 207 requested a total count for each position title that FDIC has identified in its notice so that employees can better understand the risk they face by this downsizing announcement. Based on the initial response, we fully expect that it won't be easy getting this information. Many times these announcements are based on workload studies so it is clear to the FDIC which positions will be affected. However, it gets harder and harder to get the FDIC to reveal the impact on each position title. We will keep trying to get that information.

NTEU Chapter 207 Website

NTEU Chapter 207 is pleased to announce several new communication features developed by this chapter and other chapters which we hope will help in our efforts to better convey information to you.

After a lot of work we are very pleased to announce that out on the world wide web there is a new website for Chapter 207. It can be accessed at www.nteu207.org

We hope that you will like the design and many options on the new website. It features enhanced capabilities and increased efficiencies for your use.

The new site has features that provide an interactive opportunity for communicating opinions. One feature is our latest effort to collect your opinions about topics and an ability to have that opinion posted - of course without attribution. Since this site was announced to our members last week, employees have already submitted contributions and we have begun posting those comments. We are looking to post thoughtful and considered comments. Comments will be dated as to when they were posted.

You will notice that there are areas of the website that are still under development. We will be adding material within the next several days, weeks and months. We welcome comments and suggestions to help make this useful for you and for the chapter.

Additionally, the 10 NTEU chapters across the country have collaborated to create what we are currently referring to as the NTEU-FDIC Regional Portal. This new website is located at www.nteu.net. You will notice that every FDIC chapter is represented on this site.

Through this portal you will be able to access each chapter's individual website. Please note that many other chapters also publish newsletters and are reporting on issues which you might find interesting.

In response to many requests we have received from employees desiring a way to communicate their opinion on numerous topics we have placed these topics on the front page of our website. If you write to the outside chapter mailbox from your home we will insure that your posting will remain private. We will not post your name to the topic you comment on. Choose a topic or write to nteu207@nteu207.org

The chapters are collaborating more and more to improve our method for communicating with you and to better represent your interests.

What Are The Penalties For Retiring Early?

We are now constantly hearing that employees are being told by so called “employee’s in the know” that there are no penalties if an employee retires early. This is very untrue. An employee retiring under the CSRS system will be penalized if they are not age 55 when they retire. There are no if’s, and’s or butts about that rule.

Some employees are telling us that if they are RIFed on August 31 and their 55th birthday is within days or weeks beyond the RIF date they have been told by some authorities within FDIC that they will not be penalized because they were just that close to their 55th birthday.

If you retire prior to your 55th birthday then you are not retiring under a full standard retirement but are retiring under the FDIC’s VERA authority. In all cases that will result in a penalty to your retirement.

USOPM rules state that generally retirees who are under age 55 will have their annuities reduced by one sixth of one percent for each full month they are under age 55 (i.e., two percent per year they are under age 55). Once they reach age 55, such retirees will not have their annuities increased to compensate for the reduction.

This penalty cannot be made up unless the worker returns to federal service and works till they reach age 55 or later. For many who are contemplating what to do, this penalty is what is prompting them to consider waiting for the RIF to remove them from the FDIC workforce. They want to complete their federal service career and believe that the ICTAP certification they will receive when RIFed will give them an advantage as they move to a new position within the federal workforce. The ICTAP certificate requires that an agency select a well qualified displaced employee from another agency who applies for a vacant position in a commuting area before any other candidate is selected from outside the agency. The ICTAP certificate is available to any employee who is RIFed, including those that are retired or collecting severance.

Many employees believe that they are also penalized if they don’t work for at least 30 years. In fact, the only true penalty is related to the loss to your retirement by up to 2 percent each year if you retire before your 55th birthday. If you work 20 years and retire at age 55 you of course don’t have the ability to have your retirement reflect the years that you didn’t work to reach the 30 year full credit for a full standard retirement.

The only true “penalty” applies if an employee retires before their 55th birthday.

Next week we will write about FERS issues.

Look at the link for Q&A’s for more retirement information: http://www.nteu207.org/breaking_news.html.

Bank of America Loses Private Data For Over 400 FDIC Employees.

The FDIC reported to employees last week that recent news stories involving the loss of Bank of America credit card information does involve over 400 FDIC employees. Several employees notified the union of extra steps they have taken to insure that their personal information is not mis-used. These steps go beyond what the FDIC has suggested employees do to protect themselves from possible mis-use. Employees have been advised that financial losses due to misuse of their government credit cards will be covered. However, many employees also fear other adverse affects due to the loss of their personal information through credit card fraud and identity theft.

FDIC has stated that employee's directly at risk will receive a letter identifying them as persons whose data was lost. In the meantime we suggest that employees themselves contact one of the three national consumer reporting agencies. While Bank of America has said it will contact these firms, we suggest that you also do so. If you call one of the firms listed below, then you can be certain that your interests were protected. The numbers for contacting the 3 primary agencies and placing a 90 day fraud alert: TransUnion (800) 680-7289; Equifax (800) 525-6285; Experian (888) 397-3742. These alerts can be renewed for another 90 day interval.

Identity theft is a nightmare as some at the FDIC learned several years ago when their personal information was stolen at the FDIC for the purpose of committing credit fraud.

Better safe than sorry.

Stress – What Can You Do?

The stress level at the FDIC is at an all time high. Many employees fear losing their jobs in 2005 and others fear the sound of the other shoe dropping in 2006 and beyond.

So what can you do about taking care of yourself to get through this? First come up with a plan. Figure out what situation works best for you. Such as:

1. Find a job before the buyout opportunity is over and then take the buyout
2. Take the buyout and retire and find another job.
3. Let the RIF hit you and if you are eligible let the FDIC retire you under Discontinued Service Retirement (DSR) or take severance (you will be eligible for either retirement or severance if RIFed). If you are RIFed you will also receive an ICTAP certificate (priority selection at a federal agency – for qualified positions).

Take pencil to paper or if you can, develop a spreadsheet to figure out the financial advantages and disadvantages to each of your possible scenarios. For those issues that don't "add up" write up a pro/con list for each different scenario.

On the new website, under the menu selection named Breaking News, we have added a matrix that helps define the possible advantages and disadvantages of taking the buyout or waiting to be RIFed. We have also included another new feature where we answer some questions we have received about the buyout and RIF. These can be seen at http://www.nteu207.org/breaking_news.html.

Having a plan is the best start. The next part of the plan is to take care of yourself.

Rest at night. Relax when not at work. Walk. Run. Exercise and when feeling blue or down talk to someone who cares about you or even a perfect stranger. If you are unhappy don't isolate yourself. Find a friend.

Don’t let what is happening at the FDIC get you down – and if you find yourself in a place where you feel isolated, hopeless and question your usefulness then please either call EAR or speak to your personal physician. We all tend to tell each other that we have a right to feel like we do because of the situation we find ourselves in. However, for some of us, that isn't the best advice we can be giving each other.

In years past the FDIC saw the value of having counselors who were on-site to assist with issues that employees needed assistance with. Now that apparently costs too much money so to a certain extent we need to look out for each other. None of us are experts in those areas but many of us are experts at being friends with our co-workers.

Develop a plan for how you are going to face the future. Take care of yourself now. For whatever happens – let’s all make sure that we walk out of the FDIC into the future to begin our new life. Retirees are constantly telling me – there is life after the FDIC - and it is so much sweeter than where they came from.

NTEU Files Notice To Reopen The FDIC Compensation Agreement

NTEU National President Colleen Kelley has advised all FDIC Chapter Presidents that NTEU has notified FDIC that it has begun the process of opening pay and benefits negotiations. FDIC was provided a listing of the proposed ground-rules. NTEU expects to soon receive FDIC's ground-rule proposals.

All Chapters have been participating in ongoing talks with NTEU about the upcoming negotiations. As you can imagine these are expected to be very difficult negotiations. The notice and the ground-rules will soon be posted on the Chapter's website at www.nteu207.org. Each communication that is sent from NTEU will be provided to members as they come in. In May, NTEU chapter representatives will be meeting in Miami as part of the annual training program and where these and other issues facing employees will be discussed.

The proposals filed by NTEU include the following dates, timeframes and events:

1. No later than April 1, 2005, the Employer will provide the Union with all relevant data in its possession regarding salaries and benefits in other federal financial regulatory agencies and the comparability of such salaries and benefits to FDIC salaries and benefits. This includes, but is not limited to, the results of any surveys of salaries and/or benefits provided to employees of other FIRREA agencies.
   
   
2. The parties will meet to discuss any questions or issues relating to any information relevant to the comparability of FDIC salaries and benefits to those of other federal financial agencies. Such meetings will be scheduled by mutual agreement of the parties, beginning no later than April 12, 2005.
   
   
3. The Employer and the Union will exchange proposals by close of business May 23, 2005.

If members have any thoughts on these negotiations or comments, please send them to the chapter website at nteu207@nteu207.org.

NTEU Legislative Conference Held Week of February 28 - March 3

Last week union representatives from across the country attended the annual legislative conference held every winter in downtown Washington. Every agency that NTEU represents attended the conference. Senator John Kerry (D-MA) addressed the opening session - via phone unfortunately because of flight delays due to the snow storm on the east coast. His address kicked off the lobbying activities of hundreds of NTEU representatives who met with congressional representatives in the House and Senate about issues that will affect us all in the future. It was there that we learned that many are worrying that the proposed social security changes will have a great impact on federal employees covered under FERS. During one meeting we were told point blank that we couldn't possibly believe that FERS was going to remain the same split it is now if the proposed changes occur. As we get more information about this situation we will pass it on.

Congressional representatives we met with were, by and large, very receptive to what they were presented about issues that the union cares about.

Many employees at the FDIC think that the personnel changes proposed for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Defense (DOD) don't really affect us since the FDIC has proposed its own version. The FDIC proposals were very similar to the DOD plans. The effect of these changes became even clearer during the conference. We learned that within the next 30 days the President is expected to direct all agencies to model their personnel programs along the lines of the more draconian of the two plans. We have also learned that the FDIC is looking to alter its original legislative proposal to one that is being described by senior managers as the "nuclear" version.

If you haven't been following the personnel issues that will affect DHS and DOD employees you should start following them now. Those proposals will strip those agency employees of their collective bargaining rights. The ability to get a true independent hearing on personnel matters will become nonexistent. Civil Service protections will go out the window and almost everyone will become an at-will employee.

The union's visits to the Hill made it very clear that the federal workforce will be in complete disarray as a result of these changes. Many predicted that there would never be another federal employee contacting Congress to report fraud, waste and abuse or other violations to those that write the laws and would need to know that their legislation is not being followed. Certainly no one within an agency will report those problems up the chain of command – even to agencies OIG. But then again - maybe that is the plan.

These issues are not just about federal employees needing protection - it really is about protecting the interests of the American people. Many representatives told us that they clearly understood that much was at risk. Others didn't seem to get it - but it is their team that is trying to destroy the civil service system so that the employees can be played with. Under these plans you will have no where to go when it happens.

On the last day of the conference Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) came to speak at the closing luncheon. He is the minority ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee. He loudly proclaimed that he gets it.

In future editions of the newsletter we will write about the activities of the FDIC union delegations from across the country.

Membership

Have you recently thought about whether now is the time to become a member of NTEU Chapter 207?

Interestingly, we have learned that the membership levels in all of the union Chapters representing employees within the Department of Homeland Security are at an all time high.

The very ability to have unions representing employees in the federal government is on the line right now.

If Congress goes along with stripping those rights away from those employees we will be next in line. All Federal unions need financial support to keep the fight going so that we have the right to be organized in the workplace. That takes money and your dues allow NTEU to do battle and pay for the legal challenges that they initiate on your behalf.

Please join now. http://www.nteu207.org/pdf/new_member_form.pdf