Lurita Doan
Townhall.com
5/31/2010
…Firing a unionized, poorly-performing federal employee is made even more difficult by the Obama Administration’s pro-union tilt and by their decision to support the agenda of big Labor. Elizabeth Birnbaum may have wanted to axe the federal employees watching porn and taking drugs, but first, she’d have to battle the powerful Labor Unions that have constructed a protective cocoon around all unionized employees. Does anyone think that the White House would have allowed that? No Way.
Years ago, George H.W. Bush tried to push reforms to make it easier to dismiss federal employees for gross incompetence. He tried to push for random drug tests. Ironically, the local AFGE #3457, one of the unions that represents the Gulf of Mexico-based workers of MMS, argued, that government insistence upon random drug testing was a violation of worker rights. Even in the event of a finding, the union worker would have the right to “grieve’ and protest firing in a four step process, which takes, at a minimum, 72 days during which time the government union employee cannot be penalized until the arbitration is completed.
President Obama may hope to divert attention to the idea that MMS employees were poorly led and locked in a cozy relationship with the oil industry. Just don’t expect him to admit that labor unions, representing federal employees, would not have easily allowed the firing any of the MMS employees.
Obama has strengthened the power of labor unions representing federal employees. If there is a “boot on anyone’s neck”, it’s the boot of unionized labor on the neck of the Obama Administration with a union finger in every pie. In deed and word, the Obama Administration has shown favoritism for unions…
…Obama will likely criticize BP, the oil Industry, and certainly George Bush. What the White House will not do is hold accountable onionized federal employees that have performed poorly.
Obama has empowered the unions to believe that they are a special class of employee, with special considerations and special privileges…
The complete article is at Townhall.com
