Talk:American Federation of Government Employees

Untitled
The American Federation of Government Employees is an American labor union representing over 600,000 employees of the federal government. (State and municipal employees are represented by other unions, most notably the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). It is a member of the AFL-CIO. Its current president is John Gage (labor leader).

It represents employees of all parts of the Federal Government except the United States Postal Service, which has two unions.

For administrative purposes it is organized geographically, for representation purposes it is organized by Federal Agency.

Twelve district offices, directed by a national vice president for each district, provide support services to locals. The national vice presidents and the executive officers comprise AFGE's policymaking body called the National Executive Council.

Agency-wide bargaining councils and individual locals are the means of collective bargaining with the U.S. government. Councils are centered on the agency they represent. Various councils represent different agencies. Council 220, for example, represents Social Security Field Offices.

Unlike their private sector union counterparts, AFGE and other federal sector unions do not have the power to strike and have no mandatory dues rights. Despite these limitations the federal sector unions represent a larger percentage of their workers than do modern public sector unions.

bias
The following line seems to be biased: ''AFGE is currently organizing the 43,000 employees of the Transportation Security Administration, part of DHS, and AFGE is working for a change in law which will give them the same collective bargaining rights as other federal employees. TSA employees are currently denied those basic rights, which are enjoyed by most other DHS employees.'' I don't believe that collective bargaining is a basic right so to say. Also, I don't believe they were ever denied collective bargaining, they just never did it. 12.110.35.148 (talk) 18:20, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

Not really biased
Anyone willing to conduct minimal research will find that TSA Screeners have indeed been denied the right to enter into collective bargaining.

On January 8, 2003, the Under Secretary of Transportation for Security, Admiral James Loy, signed an order prohibiting collective bargaining by TSA screeners, claiming that union representation of the workers denies the agency the “flexibility” required to wage the war against terrorism.

AFGE filed suit in a U.S. District Court, challenging Loy's right to deny bargaining rights. The court later ruled in favor of TSA. Even though TSOs are not allowed to bargain collectively, they are allowed to join the union.

Also, the above writer is also incorrect in their disbelief that 'collective bargaining is a basic right'. Title 5, Part III, Subpart F, Chapter 71, Subchapter I, § 7102 of United States Code states:

§ 7102. Employees’ rights Each employee shall have the right to form, join, or assist any labor organization, or to refrain from any such activity, freely and without fear of penalty or reprisal, and each employee shall be protected in the exercise of such right. Except as otherwise provided under this chapter, such right includes the right— (1) to act for a labor organization in the capacity of a representative and the right, in that capacity, to present the views of the labor organization to heads of agencies and other officials of the executive branch of the Government, the Congress, or other appropriate authorities, and (2) to engage in collective bargaining with respect to conditions of employment through representatives chosen by employees under this chapter.

1 STATEMENT OF ADMIRAL JAMES M. LOY UNDER SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION FOR SECURITY Before the SUBCOMMITTEE ON AVIATION COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION U.S. SENATE

2 USC § 7102. Employees’ Rights  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.25.251.242 (talk) 05:44, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

Membership
AFGE does not have 600,000 members. It represents 600,000 employees. It only has 265,000 dues paying members. E.g. http://pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=676078&Itemid=29 63.118.14.2 (talk) 14:28, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Discussion over regarding bias?
Well, now that Transportation Security Officers have 1) Elected AFGE as their exclusive representative, 2) received Collective Bargaining Rights via Administrator Pistole's Decision Memorandum; the "bias" discussion seems to be over. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.143.113.66 (talk) 04:52, 29 September 2011 (UTC)

Almost a cite for early support for women's rights
I was doing some research on AFGE and noticed the note on the page asking for a Cite for the support for women's rights. I have a clipping from the Springfield Daily newspaper from WWII that says the Springfield Armory Lodge (Local 431) campaigned to get its women workers paid the same as men. Maddeningly, the clip is only of the article text, so I don't know the exact date or page number. And the newspaper seems long gone without an archive. So, just posting this in case it gives anyone an idea on how to further track it down.GeekPhotog (talk) 22:41, 2 September 2016 (UTC)