Only in the world of fantasy would work by federal civil service employees on behalf of their unions be classified by government as “voluntary” activity.
Believe it or not, though, that's exactly what the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the 2.1 million-member career civil service, calls union work performed in the workplace by bureaucrats who are officials of their employee unions. Not only is that label misleading, the union officials' salaries and benefits are paid by the taxpayers, even as they perform duties that have absolutely nothing to do with the jobs for which they were hired.
These are not insignificant costs. The OPM estimates total federal civilian personnel costs at more than $230 billion annually. The value of all that “volunteer” union work exceeded $129 million in 2009, a 6.3 percent increase over the previous year, according to the OPM.
Thanks to multiple rulings by the Federal Labor Relations Authority, taxpayers are forced to pay these salaries and benefits even if the employees are “visiting, phoning and writing to Congress in support of “legislation” supported by unions. It's important to remember that Congress sets pay and benefit levels for career civil servants, who are not allowed under federal law to negotiate compensation levels.
With Congress struggling to eliminate unnecessary spending, ending taxpayer subsidies of federal employee unions ought to be a no-brainer. Collective bargaining agreements and grievance systems serve the private interests of federal employees. Those employees should fund the cost of union representation themselves, Congress can alleviate unions' concerns about representing employees who do not pay union dues by eliminating the requirement they do so.
At the very least, Congress should make civil service unions fund their lobbying out of their dues revenue. A bill introduced by Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., would do just that. As the Capital Research Center's Vincent Vernuccio notes, “In 2010 AFGE spent less than one-quarter of its $103 million revenues - $23.7 million – on representing workers.”
And this is only the tip of an iceberg that runs deep into the pockets of American taxpayers under the misleading title of “union work.”
* If you have enjoyed this column, may I suggest you scroll to the top of this page and press the SUBSCRIBE box? It's FREE. Thank you for your patronage.
** Send your comments to: dwight.schwab@yahoo.com
Comments