The government’s largest union will press Congress this week to suspend government outsourcing studies until rules are narrowed for what work can be contracted out.

“We’re moving formally — through a bill in Congress — to finally get contracting-out to a level playing field,” said John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees. The union plans to unveil a comprehensive proposal to overhaul public-private competitions this week as part of its annual three-day lobbying effort on Capitol Hill.

Gage declined to offer details of the union’s proposal, but a summary of AFGE’s legislative priorities refers to a measure to suspend ongoing public-private jobs competitions until outsourcing rules are rewritten to prohibit the outsourcing of work that is “inherently governmental,” “mission essential” or “closely related to inherently governmental.” Clear definitions of these terms do not exist. However, work is deemed inherently governmental if it involves deciding policy, awarding or terminating contracts, directing federal employees or commanding military personnel, determining program priorities, deciding regulations, deciding prosecutions, and other key functions.

The union-backed measure would also require agencies to develop a way to transition contracted work to federal employees. And it would require agencies to return to federal employees any work deemed to have been improperly outsourced to contractors.

“We want those contracts to be looked at again,” Gage said. “We also want to put up really strong process rules for agencies to certify that work that may be contracted out in the future is not inherently governmental, or mission essential, prior to contracting out.”

Last year, AFGE’s proposals made their way into a House-passed federal spending bill that would have imposed a one-year suspension on all competitive sourcing projects until agencies hammer out guidelines on how to “insource” contracted work — that is, transfer work from contractors to federal employees — and give new work to federal employees. The bill never passed Congress, but those provisions could be included in an omnibus bill that Congress intends to pass soon to fund government for the remainder of this fiscal year. A continuing resolution now in effect expires March 6.

Gage expressed confidence that this year, with a Democratic Congress and a Democratic White House, a halt to public-private jobs competitions will become law.

“President [Barack] Obama all through the campaign would point to abuses in contracting,” Gage said. “We’re hoping to continue to steer the administration into seeing that the best bang for the buck is good, solid federal employee workforces that are well trained, well compensated and that there’s really no shortcut.”

Other federal unions and employee groups say they too are optimistic that their longstanding workforce proposals will be passed into law this year.
“I think the climate is finally right for changes that will strengthen the federal government,” said Richard Brown, national president of the National Federation of Federal Employees. “That means giving agencies enough resources to do the jobs they are asked to do, it means providing federal workers pay and benefits that are on par with the workers in the private sector who are performing similar work, and it means ensuring federal workers have a meaningful voice in the workplace.”

Congress was receptive last year to some of the Senior Executives Association’s top priorities, such as reforming the performance-based pay system for senior executives and increasing diversity in the senior ranks, but progress stalled due to White House opposition, said Bill Bransford, SEA’s general counsel.
“Now that opposition from the prior administration to some of these proposals is gone, we’re hopeful that we can build on the gains from the last session and see more movement this year,” Bransford said.

Unions are still coming to grips with their fortune of having Democrats controlling both houses of Congress and the White House for the first time in 15 years. Ten days after taking office, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden invited federal union leaders to the White House to witness Obama signing executive orders aimed at strengthening collective bargaining rights and job security for employees of federal contractors. The move was a clear sign that labor’s voice will be heard in the new administration.

“Having President Obama in office is certainly a breath of fresh air and a source of inspiration for federal employees,” Gage said.

Gage said union leaders are switching from a defensive to offensive position, hoping for a much more positive relationship with agencies than existed during the Bush administration.

“Everybody feels this is really something different, and I believe it is, too,” Gage said. “We’re going to be able to react positively in a much more cooperative method with our agency heads and the administration in pushing these programs.”

Top union priority: Kill NSPS

AFGE’s top priority for the new Congress is to disband the Defense Department’s alternative pay and personnel rules, called the National Security Personnel System. Even though the pay rules don’t apply to employees under collective bargaining agreements, Gage said the new system has been disruptive to the entire work environment and needs to end.

“We’re just not willing to sit around and let the rest of DoD … suffer under that system. We’re going for the whole enchilada there,” he said.

Obama has committed to review NSPS and support exists within Congress and inside the Pentagon to dismantle the system, Gage said.

“A lot of these generals and base commanders look at this as throwing money away. They don’t have the staff, resources and budget to do it,” he said.

The Federal Managers Association also has raised concerns with how employees are paid and evaluated under NSPS. Still, FMA argues that a performance-based pay system is necessary to encourage and reward high performance and allow the Pentagon to compete with the private sector for talent.

Gage said he’s optimistic his union will prevail in putting an end to NSPS.
“We’re going to definitely have legislation up to kill it, and I believe the president will sign it if it goes through the House and Senate. And I think it will, especially if it gets attached to other significant bills,” he said.
With employee groups facing a more receptive audience to their concerns, the biggest hurdle to getting some initiatives passed could be the worsening economy.

Some of the proposals — to close the pay gap between the federal and private sectors, allow retirees to pay their insurance premiums with pretax dollars and extend locality pay to employees in Hawaii and Alaska — each would cost billions of dollars annually.

“I am concerned with the heavy price tags of some of our legislative priorities,” said Darryl Perkinson, FMA president.

Still, Perkinson said the proposals being advocated have a real benefit to employees. He points to perennial efforts to eliminate the government pension offset and the windfall elimination provision, two laws that prevent some Civil Service Retirement System employees from collecting full annuities and Social Security benefits.

The Senior Executives Association is emphasizing proposals that don’t carry big price tags, such as limiting the number of top positions that can be filled by non-career executives and improving how the senior executive pay system is managed, Bransford said.

AFGE’s Gage said the union will also fight for more resources for the Social Security Administration and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
But he acknowledged that some proposals will have to wait until the economy improves.

“There is going to have to be a certain element of patience that’s going to be required as we go through these problems. I think we understand that everybody is going to be sacrificing when it comes to handling this economy. Our people are realistic and we certainly understand that,” he said.