The Brooklyn Dodger |
Vol. 26, No. 2 At the IRS - Quality is Job None Aug. 20, 2008 |
THE WICKED WITCH OF THE EAST |
The Brooklyn Dodger |
Published by NTEU Chapter 53 George Greenberg President Bob Schillaci Editor 107 Charles Lindbergh Blvd. 1180 Veterans Highway Garden City, NY 11530 Hauppauge, NY 11788 516 683-5679 631-851-4965 |
EMPLOYEE WISECRACKS |
Bushwhacked...Junior |
It seems to us that the IRS has been unusually active lately with new and poorly-thought out initiatives which seem designed to do little more than make your work life miserable. Now, at the best of times we don't think much of the IRS' senior executives and this is certainly not the best of times. So not trusting our own objectivity we set about spying on them and have confirmed our worst suspicions. The transcript below was obtained by our operatives who planted a microphone in a urinal cake in a men's room near the Offices of the Human Resources Division in Washington. Needless to say . . . between flushes we learned what they are up to. {Flushing sound . . . water running . . . } Voice #1: "Hey boss, got a minute?" Voice #2: "Sure, what's on your mind?" Voice #1: "The rumors are that the brass is not happy with the results of Operation Headcount, so far. Is that true?" #2: "I'm afraid it is. Headcount was supposed to make work life so utterly miserable that all these damned employees who are hanging on and hanging on would finally get disgusted and retire. But it hasn't worked and heads may roll. No matter what we do to them . . . they just won't leave! It's frustrating." #1: "I know it's not my place to criticize but . . . " #2: "Go ahead...my ass is on the line, too. I'm open to any ideas." #1: "Okay, here's what I see. We're too narrowly targeted in our approach. For example, Operation RED seems on the surface to make it damn near impossible for some people to do their jobs but it doesn't really impact everyone." #2: "Only everyone who uses a computer . . . " #1: Right, and there are more and more of them and that is adding to the frustration level but its still localized. The Smart Card initiative looked to be a major pain in the ass but they already have ID cards. It's a pin prick annoyance in the big scope of things. Replacing TRAS with GovTrip was a brainstorm but again, only a small percentage of the people we want to leave actually travel for the IRS. You see where I'm going with this? #2: "Yes, I'm starting to. You're saying that we need to find ways to piss all of them off at the same time about the same thing. Is that about it?" #1. "Yes, sir. Now I thought that "Embedded Quality" might do the trick but it hasn't worked out. They are all angry about it but the results are private. They only show up in their own evaluations which doesn't get us the groundswell of discontent that we need to get people stampeding for the doors. This latest scam limiting auto reimbursement to 50 cents a mile while allowing 59 cents for the taxpayers had promise and we dragged it out as long as possible, but again, not that many people use their own cars and most of them are field agents and ROs and, what can I say about those people? Some of them think they still have important jobs that make a difference." #2: "You're right. I don't know how we break them of that. Of course, some of our managers send mixed messages on that score...telling them that what they do matters and all that sort of rot. So, you have an idea?" #1: "I do but it's not mine. I adapted it from the airline industry." #2: "Go on, I'm listening." #1: "The airlines seem to have declared war on their passengers. They nitpick them with fees, cancel flights, lay off staff, ground planes, they're charging them for luggage, cancelling movies, no snacks, no pillows, and charging more all at the same time. The message that they seem to be sending to the passengers is: 'Kindly go fly with someone else...WE don't want you.' It's the same thing. The airlines want to get rid of their passengers just like we want to get rid of our workers." #2: "That's certainly all true. But how does it help us?" #1: "I think we have to honestly face the reason why we have failed so far. It's the economy. Frankly, no matter how lousy we make their jobs a lot of people are worried about not having a job." #2: "And rightly so . . . " #1: " Yes, but we can claim economic hardship because of high fuel prices, too. So, let's enact a rule that employees have to rent their desks to offset heating and cooling costs. We can charge them a prorated portion of the heating and electrical bills for their facilities. We can start charging for parking because we want to reduce the amount of people using their cars to commute...the Environmentalists will love us for that one! Make our photocopiers coin operated and charge them 50 cents a page. Then re-program GovTrip to reject any request for such reimbursement. It will take years to fix the "glitch." #2: "This has possibilities, what's the downside?" #1: "The downside is that it's all completely illegal." #2: "You have to admit that's a big downside." #1: "It would be if we were serious but all we want to do is get people to leave. The union will eventually clean our clock on this one but all we'll have to do is end the practices and reimburse any employees for what they paid us. The good news is, if a lot of them get pissed and leave they won't have paid us anything and they'll still be gone because they "voluntarily retired" ( wink...wink.) #2: "This is absolutely brilliant. You've earned your merit pay for this week. I'm taking this idea to the Commissioner." #1: "In that case, sir, you might want to zip up your fly, first" . |
EDITORIALS |
We frequently describe managers who nitpick trivial items as having "A Service Center Mentality." They are usually locked away out east at Brookhaven Service Center, a maximum security, prison-like setting serving the dual purpose of keeping the public out and most of the lunatic managers locked in. The few managers who do escape and flee to our p-o-ds usually conform to the management style of these offices. Most of them are as happy to be out of there as anyone else. While our managers often leave a lot to be desired they are still miles ahead of the service center types. However, no prison is escape proof and sometimes one gets loose: In this case it is MITS Territory Manager Judy Bohan. When the dust settled from the latest re-organization MITS employees were stuck with this prize of a Territory Manager. Like a noxious cloud she has poisoned their working environment She told George Greenberg that she believes her role as T/M is "to enforce the rules AGAINST her employees". She believes lowering appraisals (without justification) is a proper motivational tool. She rotates group managers so often that workers are quite often unsure who the group manager is on a given day. She believes in intimidation. Her staff faces the implied threat and sometimes overt act of retaliation for speaking out. She'll deny them the right to take leave citing the need for "coverage" in the office, but has no problem in leaving the offices uncovered so her troops can attend a mandatory "Employee Recognition Day". We suspect that they were dragged into Brooklyn to help them 'recognize' the fact that her purpose is to make their work life as miserable as possible every day. We don't know what qualifications (if any) Bohan had to have obtained her position as a MITS Territory Manager. We are fairly certain it wasn't her math skills. Based on the IRS Discovery Directory as of 7/9/08, she has assigned 3 MITS technicians to Corona, an office with 89 employees. Garden City has about 200 people (excluding CID) but only 2 MITS technicians. Restated simply there is roughly 1 MITS technician for every 30 employees in Corona, while there is 1 MITS technician for every 100 employees in Garden City. (And you wonder why the computers don't work?) Even when she tried to alleviate the situation in Garden City, she showed that she does not understand basic math. She detailed a GS-11 technician from Brooklyn to Garden City. Normally the person would simply travel directly to Garden City from their residence and be reimbursed for travel. Nothing is simple in Bohan's world especially when she can make it difficult. She refused to allow the individual to take their own car to Nassau and instead told the employee to take the train into Brooklyn, pick up a government car in Brooklyn, drive it to Garden City and drive it back to the Brooklyn office at the end of the workday prior to going home. The rules on government car usage are that all travel MUST be done within the employee's tour of duty. Given the paperwork involved and the awful traffic in the Metropolitan NY area we estimate that the employee at best spent 4 hours a day on actual MITS work. Instead of allowing the employee to travel directly from their residence and reimbursing the employee for mileage thus allowing the MITS technician to put in the entire day working at Garden City, Bohan insisted on doing things her way, effectively taking the employee off line for a half a day. A GS-11 Step 3 in the NY locality area earns roughly $32/hour (64,896/2000). The mileage reimbursement rate was a woefully inadequate 50.5 cents per mile. The daily cost to reimburse this employee had they been allowed to go directly from home to Garden City is about $30 per day (60 miles @ .505 per mile). So to save $30 per day in travel costs, Bohan is paying the employee $128 per day to drive between Garden City and Brooklyn. Maybe she doesn't understand the travel time concept because she goes everywhere by broom! As a result of Restructuring, MITS is its own empire and is even having problems with the other operating divisions. Bohan probably feels empowered and is perhaps even encouraged to conduct herself in this manner by the MITS upper management. The Area Director, Stephen Cickay never speaks with any NTEU person. Cickay delegates all Step 3 resolution meetings to his assistant, Joseph Finger, another BSC escapee. The purpose of a resolution meeting is just that, the parties are supposed to try to resolve matters before proceeding to arbitration. However, Finger never speaks in these meetings. Perhaps this is the derivation of the phrase, 'giving one the finger?' The Joint Council of Chapters 53 and 271 are actively involved in this situation. We have gotten together with the NTEU Hoboken Field Office and currently have numerous charges filed against Bohan and other MITS managers. We will utilize any legal tactic at our disposal to combat this reign of terror. We would even consider a pitcher of water because we don't seem to get tornados capable of dropping houses in this area. But Bohan should stay away from the mid-west. |
During a grievance meeting Territory Manager, Steve Levy, told Mike O'Grady that he had read the contract. Mike replied "Come on we know you don't read it, it has no pictures in it. " A member complained that "The ERAP PILOT should be re-named the ECRAP PILE IT." A W&I employee noted of Territory Manager, Maritza Collazo: "Her heart is as cold as last night's mashed potatos" WHO WATCHES THE WATCHDOGS? Thanks to Senator Charles Grassley, ( R-Iowa) we are closer to getting an answer to that question. Sadly, the answer is pretty much what we suspected all along. On July 9, Government Executive magazine noted that Senator Grassley had blasted the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), Dennis Schindel, for moving too slowly to deal with misconduct charges against the Assistant Inspector General and his deputy. Both of these heroes allegedly violated the rules governing the issuance of Transit Subsidy cards (Washington, DC has a fine subway system). A GAO report last year found widespread abuse of the transit subsidy system and TIGTA is responsible for investigating IRS employees who falsely claim the subsidy. The report further notes that both of these senior management officials in TIGTA "have been on administrative leave since February." As you read the rest of this you are permitted to wonder about the likelihood of a bargaining unit member getting "administrative leave" for six months. [ The term "snowball's chance in hell" should cross your mind while doing so.] At any rate, the senator is quoted as saying: "IGs must live by the rules they enforce" noting further that other employees have been fired for accepting the subsidies improperly. That made us curious. In Chapter 53's history we have handled only one such charge and that was dismissed when it became clear that TIGTA agents did not understand the law they were supposed to be enforcing. NTEU maintains a database of cases for reference and after consulting it we found only one instance of an IRS employee being terminated for violating the transit subsidy program. It was a Brooklyn case from 1999 and while we can't tell from the write-up exactly what the defense was (although the fact that the employee had a previously unblemished record was mentioned prominently) the arbitrator's decision was crystal clear. The arbitrator "held that to return the employee to work, no matter how great the monetary loss would send the worst possible message to other employees." Apparently, TIGTA has no such concerns when it is their senior management that gets caught with its hand in the till. So the answer to the original question is that "no one is watching the watch dogs" or, even worse, they are watching themelves which is pretty much the same thing. Keep nipping at their heels, Senator. They deserve it. Chapter #53's 2008 Election Report The Chairman of the Committee on Nominations and Elections, Jack Israel, has issued the final report on the 2008 chapter election cycle. There were no contested races. "We hereby certify that the following NTEU members were elected officers of Chapter No. 53, Garden City, NY, on 7/28/08, in accordance with Part IV of the NTEU Constitution and Bylaws." Chapter President ............................ George Greenberg Executive Vice President ................ Michael O'Grady Treasurer ......................................... Robert Wolfson Secretary .......................................... Cassie Manzella Exam Trustee- Garden City...............Allan Cohen Collection Trustee- Garden City.........vacant Trustee at Large-Garden City.............vacant Exam Trustee- Hauppauge .................Pat Jary Collection Trustee - Hauppauge........ Rich Enterlin Trustee at Large-Hauppauge..............Steve Colaianni "We, as members of the Election Committee, Chapter No. 53, Garden City, NY certify that the above-named NTEU members were duly elected officers of the Chapter as shown; that the election was conducted in accordance with Part IV of the NTEU Constitution and Bylaws on 7/28/08 and a report of the outcome of the election was presented to the officers and members of the Chapter on 7/28/08." (Signed: Jack Israel - Chairman Mary Smith - Committee Member. Pursuant to the Chapter bylaws, the vacant positions will be filled by the Executive Board. In addition to Jack and Mary the chapter wishes to thank committee members Hank Peyser and Edyta Klimkiewicz for their efforts in making sure the electoral process went off without a hitch. |
LETTER TO THE EDITOR I am writing this letter for an unusual reason. We that are in the union look at your newsletter as the benchmark in exposing manager inadequacies, improper actions and other wrongful acts towards employees, as well as management's bad acts as a whole. My letter however acknowledges the opposite. Recently my mom, who lived in Florida, suffered a very severe heart attack unexpectedly and subsequently passed away. During this period, my manager, Mary Faraldo, had nothing but the utmost concern for the well-being of my mom, myself, and my family. Though I had several cases with priority closing dates, she reiterated that "my family comes first." She stated that I should use whatever time I needed and when I asked about work she stated that none of that was a priority now. She contacted me on her own time to make sure I was okay and even went as far as to offer to make sure my daughter was in good care if I needed to stay in Florida longer. For those of us that still do enjoy the major aspects of this job, this has been a good reminder that for those of us lucky enough to work for someone like Mary, how one gets thru the stress of something like this can relate directly to who one works for. I just want to thank Mary for doing what, for her, has come to be looked at as routine, just doing what's best for her people, not just what is written up in a labor relations manual. I would like to know, if contra to the norm, the union might consider printing this letter acknowledging a manager that has become known over the years for helping her people get through some of life's most unfortunate adversities. (s) Howard Silverman {Ed. Note: George Greenberg and I have prior experience with Mary's humanity in difficult personnel situations. We never mentioned it because we didn't think it would gain her any points with her bosses. Now that Howie's let the cat out of the bag, we assure her that we still remember. -Bob} |
THE PALIN (formerly IRVING) AWARD Irving Abidor has been gone for a while and we are renaming his award for managers who make life miserable for people who don't even work for them. The Irving is now the Palin Award, in 'honor' of Senior Commissioner's Rep, Chris Palin's continued disservice to workers in the area. Once again Palin has successfully made life miserable for Chapter 53 members regardless of their operating division. He demonstrated not only to us but to Chapter 271 as well that he would rather do nothing than do the right thing. Article 27 of the contract states "The Employer shall test and inspect each computer monitor in the work place a minimum of once per year to confirm that the equipment is properly installed and grounded, and that the clarity of the images, the brightness, contrast, and screen adjustability are functioning properly." Palin doesn't seem to think that "employer" in this case means the IRS. We grieved management's failure to inspect the monitors and #271 joined us. Using a false interpretation of the grievance process; Palin refused to address the issue when individual grievances were filed by the chapters. Instead of showing concern for the employees' well being, he attempted to have the matter handled as a national grievance which usually results in long delays. In order to attempt to expedite this Health and Safety issue, the two chapters filed a grievance under the Joint Council umbrella, as is their contractual right. Palin still refused to address the matter. His response was that it was the Service's position is that Joint Councils are not recognized in the current National Agreement. He refused to respond to the Joint Council grievance despite being shown contract language showing the IRS will conduct business with joint councils. Palin wants it both ways. He refused to deal with the joint council and he refused to accept separate grievances. He is hell bent on sending the matter down to Washington, D.C. where it will no longer be his problem and it would languish for ages. NTEU will now invoke Arbitration to see if a third party agrees with Palin's position(s). Apparently the SCR job does not include acting to ensure the health and safety of the staff. It seems more important to Palin that he avoid the issue rather simply do his job. Apparently, anyone else can go blind as long as he doesn't have to exert himself. Palin through his uncaring, dismissive attitude, has earned the right to have this dubious award named after him. President George Greenberg perfectly summarized dealing with Palin when he said "In all the years we have been unfortunately under his thumb the only response we have ever gotten is "DENIED". I did not think he knew another word." Thanks again for nothing, Chris. |
