Congressional Research Employees Association

 
As you’ve probably heard, on March 26 your CREA negotiation team reached an agreement with CRS on our new telework policy. The team worked hard to make the final agreement flexible for staff and won several crucial improvements.

If CRS hadn’t been required to negotiate with CREA, we would now be governed by the policy implemented in January for non-bargaining unit, non-supervisory staff. Here are some major changes between that policy and the one CREA negotiated for you.

1. Compflex. The original proposal explicitly stated that those who are on compressed work week schedules would not be allowed to telework. The negotiated agreement explicitly states that staff on Compflex are allowed to participate.

2. Substitute days. The original proposal stated that if you were required for work reasons to come onsite on your telework day, you were not allowed to substitute another day; in other words, you lost it. The negotiated agreement allows for substitute telework days.

3. Grievability. The original proposal included no recourse for any denial of telework. The negotiated policy allows grievances for violations of the agreement.

4. Expanded number of days. The original proposal didn’t include any potential for expansion. In the negotiated agreement, a pilot program will be initiated after six months for employees who have less face-to-face contact with Congress to telework up to two days per week.

5. Limited reasons for denial. In the original proposal, the list of reasons an employee could be denied telework was open-ended, which effectively meant that an employee could be denied for any reason. In the negotiated agreement, the factors are limited to an agreed-upon list of criteria.

6. Reapplying with new supervisor. In the original proposal, all teleworking employees were required to reapply when they got a new supervisor, which happens with some frequency in some divisions. That requirement was deleted in the negotiated agreement.

7. No unilateral termination. The original proposal included language that made it possible for the Director to unilaterally decide that telework was not consistent with the needs of the Service, potentially resulting in no opportunities for any staff to telework. That language was removed.

We hope that these are changes that make a difference to you.

CREA laid the groundwork for these negotiations by pushing for a viable telework agreement for over 10 years, both in testimony before the budget committee and in meetings with Members and staff on the oversight and appropriations committees. The new policy is a culmination of that effort.

If you’re not a member yet, please consider joining. You can see for yourself the difference union bargaining power makes in an agreement like this. We made a difference on this issue, and we’ll continue working to make one in the future. We can do it even better if you’re along.

On Monday, April 19, CREA is sponsoring a lunchtime discussion with Dr. Barbara Jones, the American Library Association’s Director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom. Dr. Jones will be speaking about censorship, planning and policy making, technology and privacy concerns, and the globalization of intellectual freedom issues in the 21st Century.

Intellectual freedom is one of the guarantees of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and librarians, as keepers and guardians of information, are trusted with making sure that patrons’ rights to intellectual freedom are secure. Please join CREA and Dr. Jones for this interesting talk.

The discussion will be held in the Mary Pickford Theater, from 12:00 to 1:00 PM. Refreshments will be served after the discussion.

 
Today, CREA and CRS management signed an agreement on telework (Telework Agreement).  Negotiations began in October and concluded yesterday.

Starting around the first of May, all bargaining unit employees, including those on a compressed work schedule, may request to telework up to one day per week. Six months later, a one-year pilot program will be established allowing staff who are not analysts in the research divisions, legislative attorneys in the American Law Division, or information professionals in KSG, to request to telework up to two days per week. CREA has argued persistently for telework since the Library adopted a program in 2005.

Through our unflagging efforts, and with input from CRS colleagues, the support of the House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch, and assistance from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, we have succeeded. We would like to thank CRS management for reaching this agreement.  It is our firm belief that our service to Congress will only be enhanced by this program, and we look forward to working with CRS employees and management in making it a success.

In a few weeks, CREA will hold one or two open sessions to explain the agreement in more detail and answer any questions.  Official time will be granted to attend these sessions.  CREA encourages everyone to attend.

 
The CREA Scholarship and Loan Repayment Grant Committee is glad to report that every applicant in the first round of the new program has been offered funding.

Loan repayment grant recipients include Cheryl Beaver, Vanessa Burrows, and David Pham.

Scholarships have been awarded in the amounts of $1,500 to Hassan Hussein for study at Howard University and $490 to David Pham for a USDA course.

A second round will be held in approximately four months. CREA encourages all members to review the program guidelines and consider applying in the next round.

 
President Roth was among the legislative branch representatives invited to testify at the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch hearing Wednesday, February 24.

Among the issues he addressed were telework, COOP planning, outside speaking and writing concerns, and labor-management relations. In a limited question and answer period following his testimony, Chairwoman Wasserman Schultz focused on telework. She asked about the differences between management and union proposals, and asked whether management’s proposal only allowed telework on fixed days. When President Roth replied only fixed days, the Chairwoman went on to ask whether it allowed employees with home emergencies to work from home, or whether it allowed for employees to work from home during the recent snow closures. President Roth informed the Chairwoman that it did not.

At the end of a Roll Call report about the hearing, a “troubled” Ms. Wasserman Schultz was quoted as saying, “CRS doesn’t appear to be taking the directive [the FY2010 appropriation report language] seriously…I’m frustrated because we were very specific about what they needed to make happen.” She added that she must still hear the agency’s side of the story.

Read President Roth’s complete testimony.