American Federation of Government Employees National President J. David Cox is not happy about the Transportation Security Administration removing small knives, along with bats and other items, from its prohibited items list. “Any knife, regardless of blade size, can be used as a weapon. TSA has created a situation where [transportation security officers] will be required to discern the length and width of a knife blade in a very short period of time. Disagreements over the TSOs’ determination as to whether the knife will be allowed through checkpoints may result in a confrontation. Far too often, TSOs are threatened and…
Yearly Archives: 2013
The sequester is upon us. Budgets are being slashed, pay is frozen and your agency is not hiring anyone. Yet despite all of that, you have a job to do. The only question is, do you have the resources you need to get the job done? Are your workloads increasing? The results of the government’s latest Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey suggest this is a problem across the government. The percentage of employees who disagree or strongly disagree with the statement “I have sufficient resources to get my job done” climbed from 34.1 percent in 2011 to 35.1 percent in 2012.…
Federal Times reported earlier this week that retirements skyrocketed in February, suggesting that the retirement wave may be regaining steam. Are you one of the 20,374 feds who put in your papers last month? We’d like to talk to you, to find out why you decided to call it a day. Was it because of the sequester and furlough threats? The general bad news from the last couple of years? Or were there other factors at play? E-mail me at slosey@federaltimes.com if you’d like to talk.
This week on Silver Screen Feds, we examine two federal employees who couldn’t be any more different: Dr. Edwin Jenner, the doomed researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the zombie apocalypse show “The Walking Dead,” and Ranger Smith, the hapless National Park Service ranger who can’t stop Yogi Bear from stealing them pic-a-nic baskets. BEST FEDS: Dr. Edwin Jenner, CDC, “The Walking Dead” (Stephen Losey) Edwin Jenner holds a unique place in the pantheon of TV and movie feds: The last civil servant on Earth. Towards the end of the first season of “The Walking Dead,”…
Even though the U.S. Postal Service isn’t mentioned once in the stop-gap spending bill approved by the House this afternoon, the measure deals a blow to the agency’s hope of ending Saturday mail delivery this August. For about 30 years, Congress has used annual appropriations bills to continue a ban on any reduction in mail delivery frequency. But continuing resolutions like the one that cleared the House today are basically just extensions of whatever Congress did the previous year. And because this particular CR is ‘silent” on the mail delivery issue, that means the prohibition would remain in force through…
Federal Times last December brought you the inside story of how the once-ballyhooed Results-Only Work Environment program fizzled when it was tested at the Office of Personnel Management. In a sad postscript to that story, Best Buy — the home of ROWE, where it was first pioneered in 2005 — has just announced it is also canceling the ROWE program. According to CNN: Best Buy said some of the 4,000 non-store employees who took advantage of its work-from home program still may be able to telecommute or set flexible schedules. But as of Monday they’ll no longer have the freedom to…
The Office of Personnel Management just announced that federal offices in the Washington area will be closed Wednesday due to snow. The storm — dubbed “snowquester” — has now begun, and is expected to hammer Washington. The Washington Post’s Capitol Weather Gang just tweeted that “conditions will deteriorate fast” as the main part of the snowstorm moves in to Washington. OPM says that the closure does not apply to emergency employees and telework-ready employees who are required to work. But for everybody else, enjoy your snow day.
Now more than ever, federal managers should be creating an environment where employees are compelled to collaborate and share innovative ideas, a senior administration official said Tuesday. “We’re going to need to have strategies as managers,” said Dan Tangherlini, acting administrator at the General Services Administration. Speaking at the Federal Managers Association’s national convention in Washington, Tangherlini challenged managers to use existing resources, such as people and technology, to improve productivity and drive down costs. “We are contending with a situation, which in my 22 years of service…is unique,” he said of the wide gap between federal spending and revenue,…
The General Services Administration auction of a a 20,000-square-foot heating plant in the high-priced Georgetown section of Washington continues to attract bidders, according to the agency. The latest bid is $19 million, up from $16.1 million a week ago. While the “soft close” date was originally set for Feb. 19 every bid the agency receives extends the amount of time left for others to respond, essentially creating a bidding war amongst interested parties.
The sequester is here, and many federal employees are upset, frustrated and worried about the impact of severe budget cuts on their jobs and agencies. Some employees are leading efforts to help their agencies cut costs and potentially lessen the impact of anticipated sharp budget cuts. It may mean using cheaper printing paper, parking in a less expensive garage or conducting more meetings via the Internet. What are you or your colleagues doing to save money? Federal Times wants to hear from you. Please contact Nicole Johnson at njohnson@federaltimes.com or at 703-750.8145.