NTEU CHAPTER 280 - U.S.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS
BEN FRANKLIN STATION, BOX 7672, WASHINGTON D.C. 20044 - PHONE 202-566-2788
INTERNET http://www.nteu280.org
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Murphy.JamesJ@epa.gov
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Inside The Fishbowl
Official Newsletter of NTEU 280
SPECIAL EDITION OF INSIDE THE FISHBOWL
NTEU 280 LEADERSHIP MEETS WITH EPA ADMINISTRATOR (SEE BELOW)
May 2005 Volume 21 - Number 4
PRESIDENT Dwight Welch 566-2787
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT Dr. James J. Murphy 566-2786
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT Seth Thomas Low 566-2789
CHIEF STEWARD Rosezella Canty-Letsome 566-2784
VICE PRESIDENTS Linda Barr (703) 605-0768
Dr. Arthur Chiu, M.D. 564-3296
Al Galli 343-9771
Dr. Bill Hirzy 566-2788
Dr. Freshteh Toghrol (410) 305-2755
SECRETARY Jacqueline Rose 566-1232
TREASURER Dr. Bernard Schneider (703) 305-5555
EDITOR Seth Thomas Low 566-2789
MAIN UNION NUMBER (202) 566-2785
UNION FAX NUMBER (202) 566-1460
NTEU Chapter 280 Website: www.nteu280.org
NTEU National Website: www.nteu.org
FROM THE
PRESIDENT
Administrator and Assistant Administrator Invite Union Officers to Lunch
NTEU 280 PRESIDENT DWIGHT WELCH MEETS WITH EPA ADMINSTRATOR STEPHEN JOHNSON
Administrator Stephen Johnson
and Assistant Administrator for OARM Luis Luna invited the officers of both HQ
unions to meet with them for a brown bag lunch on only their second full day in
office. In addition to Steve and Luis,
Ray Spears and Dave O’Connor were also in attendance for management. Representing NTEU Chapter 280 were Dr. Arthur
Chiu, Jacqueline Rose, Seth Low, Dr. Bill Hirzy, Rosezella Canty-Letsome, Linda
Barr, Al Galli, and myself. AFGE Local 3331 was represented by VP for
Civil Rights, Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo.
Mr. Johnson led off with the
principles by which he would run his administration. At the top of the list was sound
science. Mr. Johnson also felt that
employees deserved the opportunity for candid conversation, that is being able
to discuss perceived problems without fear of retaliation, certainly a new
paradigm for EPA in particular and the government in general. Some discussion evolved about not having such
conversations appear in Inside the Fishbowl. Both editor Seth Low
and I indicated that “Some of NTEU 280's best accomplishments never get
published in the Fishbowl”; we don’t publish the off the record conversations
without the prior consent of the manager or other named source. We agreed with the Administrator that in
using informal discussion, more could be accomplished than when both sides “dig
in.” Mr. Johnson stated that he believes
in collaboration and innovation.
Mr. Johnson stated his policy of
strong but well targeted enforcement. He
believes that such targeting would lead to a better allocation of
resources. He stated that his focus was
on results, that delaying agency action in the quest for the perfect solution
to a problem is not good and that in that context, he noted that, “No decision is a
bad decision.” Mr. Johnson stated his
commitment to balancing environmental policy with economic policy.
Mr. Johnson stated that he is a
believer in union partnership and that we would get together on a quarterly
basis. However, due to his schedule,
that Luis Luna would be his point person on partnership issues. Mr. Johnson indicated that what makes this Agency successful is its employees and repeatedly
praised their hard work and dedication.
Issues presented by the Unions
included scientific integrity. Bill Hirzy commented that as the last of the charter members of
the union at the meeting, he wanted to note that four of Steve's five principles
of his administration were exactly consistent with why the union was organized
in the early 1980's. He noted that the union has always stood for using the
best science in formulating environmental policy, for transparency in how
decisions affecting the environment are made, for collaboration between the
professional staff and political management protecting the public and for
respecting the contributions of all EPA employees to the Agency's success.
Hirzy also pointed out that both the Principles of Scientific
Integrity (PSI) training and our Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) are
tools for helping employees and managers keep to the straight and narrow. He noted that the CBA requires that managers
"...recognize their responsibility to ensure that all orders and
instructions are consistent with law, rule, regulation, or Agency policy,"
and that the PSI training reminds us all that we must be cognizant of our
programmatic laws and of our duty to report breaches of the PSI. He recommended that the training be
mandatory, especially for managers, so we can avoid the problem we had a few
years ago when a manager told an employee that it was the employee's duty to
support the managers decisions, "Even if I say 2 + 2 = 7."
Dr. Hirzy
cited the case of malathion
where Dr. Brian Dementi pointed out that a method
previously rejected as bad science was being resurrected to set, using an
extrapolation, a critical regulatory end-point at a level that ignores actual
experimental data.
Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, the VP of Civil Rights for AFGE 3331, discussed
civil rights at EPA and enforcement of the NO FEAR Act. At that point I mentioned the quarterly
meetings with Office Civil Rights (OCR) Director Karen Higginbotham and her
Deputy, Gordon Schisler, with Seth and I, indicating that they were very productive. I suggested that perhaps the AFGE 3331 VP of
Civil Rights could also participate in these meetings. Seth also contributed to this discussion
indicating how many times he and the Director of OCR agreed on issues and that
honoring the ground rules of confidentiality has fostered frank and candid
discussions with no need to talk “in code.”
Al Galli
discussed SES rotations. He also started
the discussion about making alternative dispute resolution more successful by
requiring the appropriate managers to attend.
(Frequently employees are willing to cooperate in this process only to
have it stone-walled by managers.) This
precipitated a group discussion and management agreed that this was a project
worthy of further partnership effort.
Jacqueline Rose asked if EPA was
one of the first agencies to go to a 5 tier performance management system. Management indicated, “No, we are one of the
last.”
Time was tight and I had a
number of issues that did not get presented including the sorry state of Labor
Relations–all the experienced LR people have gone to other agencies. Why?
Also, VP Linda Barr did not have a chance to discuss her frustration
with the 4/10 negotiations–more than a YEAR AND A HALF have transpired without
even agreeing to ground rules. These are
issues that we are raising to Luis.
All the union officers I spoke
with after the meeting expressed their sense that we have turned a corner at
EPA and look forward to working with the Administrator and his senior staff, in
protecting the environment in a work place that fosters integrity.