2012 NWSEO Spring Council Meeting
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
March 10 – 11, 2012
NWSEO Meets with Ranking member of CJS subcommittee Congressman Fattah –
Highlights the Importance of ITO Positions at each WFO
(March 12, 2012) NWSEO President Dan Sobien welcomed Congressman Chaka Fattah to the Spring Council Meeting. Congressman Fattah is the Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee. NWSEO Regional Chairs introduced themselves and explained the work they do specific to weather and geographical issues of their region.
NWSEO President Dan Sobien made a passionate plea for the Congressman’s help in preserving the Information Technology Officer (ITO) positions. The meeting focused on important role the WFO ITOs play in the Agency’s mission of protecting lives and property. The President’s proposed FY2013 budget reduces the NWS budget by nearly $40 million. Because of this, the NWS plans to eliminate 98 ITO positions at WFOs, while moving 24 ITO positions to regions. NWSEO believes this regional approach will not work. Currently, NOAA and the NWS do not have a plan on how they would accomplish this without degrading the Agency’s mission.
NWSEO General Counsel Richard Hirn told the Congressman that the NWS is already implementing the plan to cut ITO positions before Congress gets a chance to weigh in on the issue. He explained that currently NWS is not filling ITO positions across the country when they become vacant. Dan Sobien told the Congressman that there are rumblings of more budget cuts to the NWS in Fiscal Year 2014 and the elimination of other NWS positions could be coming.
The nearly $40 million cut to the NWS is far greater and not proportional to the overall cut to NOAA. NOAA’s position on the satellite program is costing a large share of the budget. Eliminating 98 ITO positions after one of the worst weather years in recent history jeopardizes the Agency’s life saving mission. NWSEO is putting tremendous effort into saving these jobs.
Dan Sobien emphasized again, the importance of the WFO ITO and thanked Congressman Fattah for attending the Spring Council Meeting. Richard Hirn informed the National Council about Fattah’s interest across the board, especially in the field of neuroscience. This is a project near to the Congressman’s heart. He gave the National Council a short briefing on his work in this field before the meeting wrapped up. NWSEO members can also help by writing to their elected officials to prevent NOAA/NWS from eliminating the ITO positions and to fully fund the NWS in the coming years.
Hardship transfer program
The Hardship Transfer Program which was agreed to by the NWSEO and NWS has become a failure. The NWSEO President tells people who want to make a move not to sign up for it because they have a better chance of getting a new position if they fix up their resumes and apply for jobs. The Hardship transfer program is giving false hope. NWSEO have proposed to replace the Hardship Transfer Program with a job trading list. Currently, if management sees your name on this list, oftentimes, it works against the applicant. Jason Franklin, NWS Labor-Management Relations, says that the Hardship Transfer Program is tracked at the national level. Everyone acknowledges this is a problem, but it is not given priority, however, for the people on the list, it is a huge priority. The Directive is very weak and old and needs be revisited. The language needs to be strengthened in the Directive.
Work Force Management
The National Council discussed problems with Work Force Management. Jim Brader talked about an American Veteran who is a meteorologist qualified currently in a met tech position. He’s qualified and rated GS 9 internally. Externally, he is a 7. Richard Hirn said that this is a problem that management has to fix. He also noted that if there are vacancies for more than 20 days, NWS needs to pay temporary promotions so that management doesn’t benefit from the vacancy. There is also the problem of the union dues that was not taken out of members’ pay.
Jason Franklin has had discussions with WFMO about how to fix the issues. The problem is getting the information into the system. He’s not sure who is processing the information and agrees there is a Workforce Management Problem. He has taken the WFMO issue to Jack Hayes to forward up to NOAA. NWSEO believes there is just WFMO incompetence for hiring and filling positions. NWSEO would like the NWS leadership to try to get WFMO corrected.
Richard Hirn asked about the progress on the union grievance on temporary promotions. Jason Franklin (NWS) says they are going through the grievance region by region. Temporary promotions are not limited to a particular office, according to Richard Hirn. They can be filled by an employee in another office, if necessary. NWSEO will continue to grieve and prevail when needed to make sure temporary promotions take place as required by the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Dan Sobien and Richard Hirn expressed to Jason Franklin that they wished that Jack had come to the meeting in a show of support and to express that he would not deal with NWSEO in the manner that NOAA did at the meeting last Wednesday. At the meeting on Wednesday, March 8, NOAA leadership and Kathryn Sullivan walked out on NWSEO after the union told them that they had no plans to help them eliminate the ITO positions. Richard described the appropriate way to deal with strong conflicts at a meeting without taking it to a personal level and walking out. NWSEO Vice President Bill Hopkins explained the great loss of respect, credibility and confidence among employees due to the fact that there is no plan to make the ITO position regional.
Eastern Region Chair David Solano talked about the All Hands Meeting where the reduction of the ITO positions was announced. It was well attended in his region. He said that the employees are aware of what happened at the meeting with NOAA and NWS management and NWSEO representatives in March 2012. NWS employee morale is down and these are the same troops that are responsible to make AWIPS2 a possibility so their jobs can be replaced. Dave also pointed out to the NWS Labor-Management Representative that the employees in the NWS have lost confidence in the NWS leadership and NWS employees feel NOAA is actually running our agency - not the NWS Director.
John Werner, NWSEO SR Chair, asked where this reduction came from and who is driving it. The impression is that Jack Hayes is not running the show. Jason talked about the 2011 budget request that included the ITO reduction. He’s not sure if it was a budget person but that is the impression.
NWSEO General Counsel Richard Hirn provided the National Council with his legislative report. He updated them on the issues that he is currently working on. Mr. Hirn also discussed the extensive lobbying efforts he is involved in to protect ITO positions. Congressional Hearings will take place on March 20 and March 22, 2012. Senator Frank Wolfe, Congressman Chaka Fattah, Senator Barbara Mikulski and Senator Hutchinson from Texas and their senior clerks will decide the proposed ITO reduction issue. NWSEO is targeting these legislators, along with other key players in Congress to inform them of the crucial role of the WFO ITOs in the Agency’s mission. You can also help by writing, calling and emailing the representatives listed above.
Mr. Hirn said that Senator Rockefeller would not let the administration move NOAA to the Department of Interior. He believes this issue is dead.
Steward Training will be on November 12, 2012 in Las Vegas just prior to the NWSEO National Convention. The priority for attendance will go to new stewards and members who have never had training. They must be able to be at the hotel by noon on Monday, November 12.
There is more news from the Spring Council Meeting. We will have a second post soon on www.nwseo.org.
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