April 3, 2008
NTEU Scores Second Arbitration
Win Against Grooming Standards
NTEU has won a second arbitration decision declaring
that CBP’s personal appearance standards (PAS)
required of its uniformed employees are illegal. In
his remedy, the arbitrator ordered that the PAS, or
grooming standards, must be rescinded and ordered
CBP to return to the status quo by returning to the
prior grooming standards.
NTEU
Ensures CBP Employees Living Abroad
Won't Have To Move
CBP employees living abroad but working
in the U.S. will not have to choose
between their jobs and their homes,
under an agreement reached by NTEU.
After nearly three
years of effort, NTEU and CBP agreed
that the agency’s residency requirement
would be waived for employees who currently
live outside the U.S. Many of these
workers live abroad because of specific
family issues, including essential economic,
medical and educational needs. Permission
to live abroad in most if not all situations
was granted by the agency. CBP’s
residency requirement will apply to
future employees, but waivers will continue
to be available for specific situations.
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In 2004, CBP rejected the long-standing appearance
standards that had been negotiated and decided to
replace them with more draconian standards that have
no supporting rationale.
“There was never any question that CBP employees
presented a professional image,” said NTEU President
Colleen M. Kelley, “so forcing these new standards
was insulting and has no bearing on the ability of
employees to perform their jobs.”
The CBP-imposed standards prohibit beards on employees
and set detailed rules addressing hair color, mustache
and fingernail length, the wearing of jewelry and
more.
The most recent decision finds that CBP's actions
violated civil service merit system principles, applicable
law and the parties' national agreement. CBP had failed
to conduct a job analysis to determine whether there
was a rational relationship between the grooming standards
and employees' performance. As a result, the arbitrator
ruled, CBP has illegally been using non-merit factors
as a condition of employment.
CBP has refused to comply with an October 2005 arbitrator's
ruling that the program was illegally implemented
and should be rescinded. In response, NTEU has filed
a national grievance to force CBP compliance.
"It is time for CBP to acknowledge that the
new standards were illegally put in place and rescind
them," said Kelley.
NTEU Wins Victory Against CBP's
Unfair Scheduling Practices
CBP employees are one step closer to a more stable
and fair scheduling system.
Following NTEU’s successful grievance challenging
the legality of CBP’s Revised National Inspectional
Assignment Policy (NIAP), an arbitrator has issued
a remedy ordering CBP to return to the working conditions
in place when NTEU's grievance was filed in May 2005.
The earlier decision, won 16 months ago, made it
clear that CBP is obligated to bargain with NTEU at
the national level over changes to employee work schedules
and shift assignments.
Despite the success of the NTEU-negotiated NIAP,
the then U.S. Customs Service unilaterally implemented
a Revised NIAP in October 2001 and declared that it
no longer had to bargain over the policy. Since then,
many CBP employees have had their lives disrupted
by being forced to work with split days off, different
daily shifts within the same work week and changes
to their working hours with little notice.
NTEU expects CBP to appeal the arbitrator's ruling
on both the grievance and the remedy phase to the
Federal Labor Relations Authority, delaying relief
for employees who continue to suffer from unfair scheduling
practices.
For the complete story, click
here or visit <www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease
/PressRelease.aspx?ID=1222>.
OMB Director: DHS Will Continue Preparing
for LEO Benefit Rollout
The director of the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) has confirmed that the administration will “abide
by the law” and prepare for the July 6 rollout
of the NTEU-won enhanced law enforcement officer (LEO)
retirement benefit.
In a letter
to the leadership of the House and Senate Homeland
Security Committee,OMB Director Jim Nussle assured
lawmakers that the Office of Personnel Management
and DHS will prepare to implement the program’s
requirements despite the president's efforts to repeal
the benefit and eliminate its funding.
Nussle's letter was in response to an NTEU-backed
letter
from committee leaders expressing their support for
the LEO benefit and for the inclusion of additional
funding for the program in the fiscal 2009 budget
submission. The bipartisan group of lawmakers acknowledged
the vital contributions of CBP Officers and the role
this "well deserved and long overdue" benefit
will play in the agency's recruitment and retention
efforts.
NTEU enlisted the support of the committee leaders
in anticipation of the president’s opposition
to the LEO program. Along with educating lawmakers
on the importance of the benefit, NTEU has gotten
CBP Officers and the public involved through a grassroots
letter-writing campaign.
After decades of hard work on the issue, NTEU won
congressional authorization and funding for the retirement
benefit in the fiscal 2008 omnibus appropriations
bill, signed by the president in late December. For
more information, visit www.cbpunion.org/LEO.
NTEU Agreement Assures Training
for WHTI Implementation
NTEU and CBP have reached agreement on implementation
of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI)
that ensures adequate employee training in multiple
formats, as well as other key provisions.
WHTI requires U.S. citizens and foreign nationals
to present a passport or other appropriate identity
and citizenship documentation when entering the United
States. It will initially be rolled out at the Blaine
and Nogales ports of entry followed by the 10 largest
land border locations.
Under the initiative, CBP will no longer rely solely
on oral declarations to identify travelers and will
shift the focus from vehicle to passenger inspections.
CBP Officers will be given new technology, such as
Vicinity Radio Frequency Identification, a new land
border management system, and Vehicle Primary Client
software, modernizing the land border vehicle primary
process.
Along with assurances that CBP will provide officers
with classroom and live demonstrations of the new
equipment, NTEU's agreement includes the following
provisions:
• WHTI equipment installed in the primary booth
will not obstruct the officer’s view of approaching
vehicles and passengers.
• WHTI information will be easily readable
and accessible.
• Estimated Inspection Processing Times
by Alternatives may not apply in unusual circumstances,
such as National Crime Information Center hits.
Representatives from CBP and NTEU will meet at impacted
ports at least one week prior to roll-out of the new
WHTI technology to discuss specific concerns. After
WHTI is implemented, either party may raise concerns
for consideration and discussion.
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