Use of Official Time on Rise

Both the amount and cost of “official time” that federal employees who are union officials spend away from their jobs-but for which they continue to be paid their federal salaries-for union purposes rose between 1998 and 2002, the Office of Personnel Management has reported. The hours count for 2002 was nearly 4,666,000 compared with nearly 4,333,000 in 1998. On a per bargaining unit employee, that meant a rise from 4.21 hours from 3.99, and the cost rose to $114.3 million from $108.3 million. By agency, the greatest amount of official time per bargaining unit employee was at the Transportation Department, 13.86, followed by Social Security Administration, 8.37, Labor, 8.16 and Treasury, 7.21. The State Department had the lowest rate, 0.69, with NASA, Interior and Health and Human Services also below two hours per employee.