Legal —11

V. Federal Sector, Service Contract And A-76 Issues

Organizing and representing employees of the U.S. Government and its many contractors has increasingly become a mixed bag of opportunities. Even before the last Convention, the government was putting Federal activities under tremendous pressure to “re-engineer” or be contracted out, leading to substantial job losses. Congress has created a feeding trough for government contractors by passing the so-called FAIR Act that directs Federal departments and agencies to publish lists of all of their work that is not “inherently governmental.” Not satisfied, the Bush Administration rewrote the A-76 outsourcing rules so that all government functions are presumptively not inherently governmental unless the department or agency produces written justification that some functions are not. The doors are wide open for companies to raid government jobs, and they are doing so at an increasing rate. As usual, the price is paid by the employees who are downsized, outsourced, dislocated, or terminated.

In trying to turn the Federal government over to big business, the Bush Administration is following the lead of Ronald Reagan, who started the modern campaign against the Federal government and Federal service more than two decades ago. One of President Bush’s first acts was to issue an Executive Order abolishing Federal partnership councils and rescinding a Clinton initiative that was supposed to promote Federal-sector bargaining on the so-called “b(1)” permissive issues of “the numbers, types, and grades of employees or positions . . . or . . . the technology, methods, and means of performing work.” President Bush also replaced the entire Federal Service Impasses Panel with new members chaired by someone with no prior experience in negotiating collective bargaining agreements.

On the A-76 front, the current Administration has greased outsourcing by making the rules even more favorable for private contractors, including the redefinition of “inherently governmental” as just noted. The Legal Department continues to assist our Federal-sector lodges that are faced with A-76 competitions, but we must report that our success in this very difficult area is mixed. Our wins are often due to the dedication of GLRs, Business Representatives, and members who have truly learned the A-76 process under fire. When we lose, our members know that the IAM has done everything that we can do.We are also monitoring another increasing trend, which is outsourcing through direct conversion. These jobs are not competed, so Federal workers do not even have the flawed A-76 process to help them.

The Legal Department is continuing to assist in integrating the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) into the IAM. We are pleased that our new Associate General Counsel, Carla Siegel, adds significant public-sector experience and expertise to our Department.

Organizing and representing the employees of Federal contractors is a bright spot in this general sector. The McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act of 1965 applies to all Federal contracts for services in excess of $2,500 and creates conditions that are very conducive to organizing and successful bargaining. The Legal Department helped create a Service Contract Class at the WWW Center, which is given several times a year. That class has spawned an SCA Networking Class that promotes the internal sharing of experience among our representatives who work in this area. Over the last few years, organizing statistics have been impressive, and in almost all cases the first contract is easy to get. Since developing our own expertise in this area, we have gotten involved in DOL administrative and appeal processes.We see this as an expanding and very promising subject.