An arbitrator has ordered the Bureau of Customs and Border
Protection to rerun its 2005 employee awards process after
finding that the agency violated a labor contract, the
National Treasury Employees Union has announced.
The union, which represents about 14,000 CBP employees,
said the decision could mean millions more in awards for
employees, and revives negotiated joint labor-management
committees at the local level to make award recommendations
by consensus, with final approval by a higher level agency
official.
The committees had been in use for eight years but the agency
suspended them in 2005, something the arbitrator said was
“contrary to what the agency agreed to” in the labor agreement.
It said the agency had announced plans in late 2004 to implement
a unified awards policy for all employees rather than use the
locally based program, but the parties never agreed on a new process.
The union’s president, Colleen M. Kelley, characterized the
action as another in a series of steps to implement policies
“at the risk of losing the confidence and respect of its employees.”
NTEU filed another grievance recently because the agency made
the awards behind closed doors, and has refused to release
information on award-recipients. The union also alleged that CBP
managers told employees to not mention to their colleagues if
they received awards, and it has filed a FOIA request to get that
information.
Kelley said the agency’s secrecy in the matter forebodes how the
Department of Homeland Security in general will implement its new
pay-for-performance system, which the department promised will be
transparent.
