Toward a more perfect union

0 Comments | Insight on the News, August 31, 1998 | by Sean Paige

The lackeylike loyalty of labor unions to the Democratic Party and its leader, Bill Clinton, hasn't come without its quid pro quos -- one of which seems to be undermining the productivity of the government's somnambulant workforce under the guise of improving it.

Clinton and Vice President Al Gore made a "new partnership" with federal-employee unions one of the cornerstones of their "reinventing-government" effort in 1992, when through executive order they granted unions a more direct hand in managing agencies to win their support for that effort. But critics suspect the new partnership has led to an explosion in the number of hours federal workers spend on union-related activities, as opposed to serving the taxpaying "customers" and made the jobs of beleaguered federal managers even more trying, because they can't blow their noses without a union rep standing by to hold the handkerchief.

At recent hearings on Capitol Hill, Social Security Administration Inspector General, or IG, James G. Huse Jr. reported that SSA employees spent an estimated 481,945 hours on union-related activities in 1996, at a cost to taxpayers of $14.7 million in salaries and expenses. Of SSA's 52,000 employees, 1,800 serve as union representatives; 145 of whom work on union business full time.

A General Accounting Office, or GAO, study of 32 federal agencies found that federal workers spent an estimated 2.5 million hours in 1996 on union-related activities, costing taxpayers at least $50 million. This is a low-ball guesstimation by GAO, to be sure, since many agencies do not keep track: of how many hours their employees spend on union business -- and federal unions, despite the new partnership, do not cooperate in the tabulation.

Nearly a quarter of SSA field managers surveyed by their IG suspected that so-called "official time" was being abused by their employees, and many reported that the explosion of union-related activity is affecting morale and productivity. "Employees have observed union activists selling real estate, working at [Baltimore's] Camden Yards Stadium and doing home maintenance on official time," one SSA claims authorizer recently testified. "On many occasions I have seen my colleagues using official time to go shopping, conduct personal business or pursue hobbies such as fishing, golf and record collecting."

Another SSA manager reported that union representatives refused to assist his efforts to bring some accountability to the process; another said that morale was suffering in his office because some of his employees were being pushed to the breaking point while others were dallying on union business. He said other changes wrought by the "new partnership" were equally counterproductive.

American Federation of Government Employees President Bobby Harnage dismissed the criticisms as part of a politically motivated "war" Republicans have been waiting on unions since they took control of Congress in 1994. Harnage added that the new partnership has improved efficiency by decreasing the number of federal-employee grievances against management.