Readers' Comments
Total Comments: 14
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Labor and Employee Relations in 2007: The Very Best Stories of the Year
Total Comments: 14
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November 21, 2008
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Great Article Bob
VA
Thu Jan 10, 2008 8:34 AM
Post Reply
I see Alaska again made the list. Must be the cold.
Best stories of the year.
IRS
Thu Jan 10, 2008 9:01 AM
Post Reply
Bob, your pretty transparent in that you lean strictly to the agency/management side. I'm sure that you have some justification in your positions, but don't you think it fair to highlight some of the ridiculous management positions. For instance you neglected to talk about the territory manager who insisted that the employee's manager retrieve all agency documents from the employee's possession while that employee was in critical condition in a coma. Or what about the situation of the head of GSA who is the only individual who has government wide authority to increase mileage reimbursements for all government employees but refuses to enact the change for 31 days, in effect requiring the individual employees to subsidize the federal government. That same individual, after prompting by several employee organizations is again doing the same thing. Where is your story here?....
Re: Best stories of the year.
FedSmith Writer
Thu Jan 10, 2008 11:36 AM
Re: Best stories of the year.
IRS
Fri Jan 11, 2008 9:39 AM
This is why you are not creditable. Be objective and you can be read without the reading holding his nose.
Re: Best stories of the year.
VA
Thu Jan 24, 2008 12:31 PM
Silliness
NTEU
Thu Jan 10, 2008 10:55 AM
Post Reply
I have just learned of the great honor that Mr. Gilson, who I consider to be a Sultan of LR Silliness, has bestowed upon me. While the honor initially left me quite verklempt, I do want to thank all the political appointees at the FSIP who the President thought could do the job despite lacking any professional experience or knowledge in the field. They have served with the same distinction I would expect from a French Lit major having been appointed to the Surgeon General position or even some allegedly AWOL fly boy serving as Commander-in-Chief. Their decisions to require firefighters to drink and bath in what their own managers called smelly, foul-tasting water as well as their de facto injunction against federal employees signing federal forms on federal property are what made this honor possible for me. But, before I go off to list on E-Bay the SWAG that comes with this honor and to learn which rehabbing diva I will be sharing a limo with on the way to the after-party, let me just point out that the one thing Gilson and I agree on is that the FSIP, whether in Republican or Democratic hands, is a terrible way to settle disputes. So, it is time to fix this thing—as in “put-it-down.” I am currently involved in a dispute at the FSIP involving a Homeland Security agency that the President spent three years trying to put under a different LR system because of what he felt was a national interest in rapid-no nonsense resolution of disputes at Homeland Security. But his own appointees at the Panel took ten weeks from the petition to hold its first meeting and it has been another four weeks since then without a decision. Moreover, because the Panel does not have the authority to do what a private arbitrator could do with the issues in dispute, all they are likely to produce is a decision that one or both sides will challenge to the FLRA. In the meantime, the managers of that Homeland Security unit will have to continue enforcing the practices left over from four different labor contracts—even if it means the employees of just one work group have to be treated four different ways. Most states use private arbitrators to settle public sector labor disputes. Since we in the federal sector already use arbitrators to decide multi-million dollar grievance disputes, EEO class action claims, and whether a fired employee should be reinstated to a job, is there really a good reason not to let them decide things like how clean the office water must be or what forms can be signed where in the building?
Re: Silliness
FedSmith Writer
Thu Jan 10, 2008 11:43 AM
It's Silly...
DoD
Thu Jan 10, 2008 12:12 PM
Post Reply
til it happens to you.
While I'll allow that these were less-stellar examples of our tax $$ at work, I've seen too many feds--outstanding workers of many years' service--who are being shafted on little to no grounds. That's not "silly."
BTW--the "last months of the Carter administration" would have ended in Jan 1980 and not "the late 80s," as you claim.
Re: It's Silly...
usda
Thu Jan 10, 2008 2:56 PM
Re: It's Silly...
GSA
Thu Jan 10, 2008 3:11 PM
Bob Gilson
IRS
Fri Jan 11, 2008 9:36 AM
Post Reply
I have read Mr. Gilson's article about silly problems. Some of the one's listed may have been silly. The problem is that all of the items are against workers and none are against management. Mr. Gilson, it is not creditable to believe that management is always right and the unions and non management employees are always wrong. The way you wrote this article makes it totally worthless and shows your lack of credibility.
As far as the FSIP is concerned it is a group of political hacks out to support the president's philosophy, which is to take away federal worker's benefits and make working conditions more difficult. How many times has FSIP supported the non management position? Very few. The imposition of the contract was so one sided that it had to have been dome by political hacks. I pray that the IRS contract is not put before this group of hacks. Then worker morale will really go to rock bottom.
You sound like a mouthpiece of the president. learn to be more objective.
Re: Bob Gilson
IRS
Fri Jan 11, 2008 9:48 AM
Now THAT would be a step up!
Bob's articles
Dod Agency
Fri Jan 11, 2008 9:51 AM
Post Reply
Bob has an eye for humor. It is too bad that the true believers in the union movement can't see that. It must be tough looking through life with no sense of humor and knowing that anyone who doesn't agree with your point of view must be wrong or have a hidden agenda!
Keep up the good work, Bob, and don't let the ne'er do wells get you down. Many of us enjoy your articles and perspective what is not often seen in government publications. We have plenty of whiners in government and most of them have plenty of time to carp and complain about how tough it is and how they are constantly complaining to make things the "right" way. What is it you said in at least one class: "Would you like cheese with your wine?"
What is silly
Independent Agency
Fri Jan 11, 2008 6:18 PM
Post Reply
First, as a mediator, I would hope both management and union begin to recognize that once they turn their dispute over to a 3rd party, either mediator, or Panel, then it loses the ability to determine what it wants, and has to rely on another to accept whatever arguments it makes.
Second, I have been a mediator for almost 14 years and while issues (especially on paper) may appear to be "silly" there are often underlying factors and emotions behind these "silly issues." So while it is easy to criticize and ridicule from afar, it is more difficult to understand and resolve, which many of us try to do everyday.
I often read Mr. Gilson as he talks about effective management and leadership. A key attribute of any effective manager/leader is the ability to empathize, which means you understand a situation, even when you don't agree with the viewpoint being raised.