The Brooklyn Dodger |
Vol. 22, No. 1 IRS ! The Incredible Shrinking Agency Jan. 15, 2005 |
State of the Union |
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 |
EDITORIALS |
It is safe to say that the state of the union depends on the state of the IRS and the IRS is in a bad way. Rules and processes change every day and never for the better. The more they change things the worse it gets for everyone. Most of you were here in September of 1993 when Vice President, Al Gore, released his "Re-Inventing Government" report. The Vice President made some significant observations about the Government's business practices: Too many managers; too little decision making on the front line; too many rules. In fact, Mr. Gore concluded that the entire structure of the government was based more on following rules and less on getting any actual work done. It is fair to say that IRS management took one look at Gore's report and ran shrieking in the opposite direction. Several years later the IRS used the faulty conclusions of the Senate Finance Committee and the RRA '98 as a pretext to further consolidate decision-making in Washington and to increase the number of managers and staff people who get in the way of the relative handful who are working. It is a certainty that IRS' National Office would never accept General Patton's premise that subordinates should be allowed to do their jobs with a minimum of nitpicking from above. Hell. What did Patton know? We are reminded of this because of a recent management book Up Your Business! by Dave Anderson. Anderson has some cute metaphors in his work saying that "eagles are drawn to mountaintops not landfills. He then lays out some of the criteria for a "Landfill Environment." Too many rules; Poor training procedures; Too many or unproductive meetings; Weak leaders; and, Lack of stretch assignments and meaningful work. There are others but you get the idea. In the last five years the IRS has become the very embodiment of a Landfill. Al Gore can only shake his head at the missed opportunity and Patton must be spinning in his grave. Let there be no doubt that if anyone ever gave Commissioner Everson a copy of Up Your Business Everson's reply would be "Up Yours!" We do not have people with any sort of vision running the IRS. They manage by slogans and Everson has them taking the pulse of the agency so firmly that they are cutting off circulation to the hands. As Anderson cautions corporate leaders: If you think you must make every decision, have every idea, and do all the talking, relax! You're not that good. The surest way to lose good people is to abuse them with micromanagement. It certainly seems to us that this is exactly the road that the IRS has chosen to pursue and judging by the numbers who are abandoning ship it seems that Anderson's warning was right on target. All of which brings us to the miscreant for this issue: Cheryl Sherwood, Director of Collection Policy. Sherwood has made The Dodger before, when she suggested in a memo that it was time to "put RRA '98 behind us." That would have been fine except Congress has not yet seen fit to repeal that law which makes disregarding it dangerous. Sherwood is not the only person issuing pointless and contradictory memos. She just happened to do it twice in a three week period and (with classic bad timing) just as this issue was being written. Exam has people who perform the same function as Sherwood and annoy people just as much. In any case, Sherwood sent out two memos which caused a firestorm in the field as managers and employees tried to figure out what was going on and then, when confronted by NTEU over the change in working conditions, Sherwood backpedaled faster than an NFL cornerback covering Terrell Owens. We suppose we should be glad that the Cheryl Sherwoods of the world are just government bureaucrats who have no real power. Had Moses come down from Mt Sinai after meeting Sherwood he would have had The 10,000 Commandments and needed a string of pack horses to carry them. Please, Cheryl. You're driving everyone out of their goddamn minds. Knock it off! Use the time you save to read Anderson's book. You may learn something. |
Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity. --General George S. Patton |
">
">
">
">
The membership has been working overtime on wiseass comments. During lunch in a Hauppauge conference room, Collection Manager, Aldo Rovere, noted "I became a manager in 1981. Fellow manager, Jim Ross, said " Me, too. " Tony Anastasio quipped, "bad year for managers." One agent discussed Survey 2004 by saying: "We've tried giving them 1's....we've tried giving them 5's. We've tried taking it 18 times and they still keep doing it. It's like trying to get rid of fleas." An LMSB agent noted that in one of Debbie Nolan's VMS monologues, she made reference to the "Team of 38." "Even Red China only had a 'Gang of four.'" A manager noted: "Do you know that Territory Managers get $140,000 a year? In a voice dripping with sarcasm, another manager said: "and they're worth every penny." Acknowledging SBSE's recent Area Manager's meeting in Washington one worker speculated on the usefulness of such meetings by suggesting that they design "Mission Statement T-shirts." A colleague went her one better and suggested t-shirts with the following: My Area Manager Went to Washington And All I Got Was This Lousy T-shirt. Finally, one manager told the group that new secretaries would have some 'growing pains' because they were not from SBSE. "Ah....just like Kevin Brown," shot back one veteran. |
ELECTIONS DO HAVE CONSEQUENCES |
In this case, we refer to the 2000 Election. One of the problems with having Republicans appoint anti-labor hacks to bodies such as the Federal Labor Relations Authority is that they use their power to advance their agenda. In this case, a very useful tactic for chapter 53 has been cut off. Another union, the National Association of Government Employees lost a case before the FLRA on a higher-graded duty case. The FLRA ruled that an employee could only get a total of 120 days per year in temporary promotions without going through a 'competitive' process. Anyone who has been through the 'competitive process' knows that it is a crock, too but the government loves to live by its little fantasies. Be that as it may, what it means is that if your manager gives you a case which is above your grade level for a year or more, the FLRA's interpretation of the law is that the manager's action is less of a violation than paying back pay at a higher grade for more than 120 days. The Republican appointees on the FLRA have declared the remedy invalid but sustained the "crime." They fully agree that employees should not work above grade level but, if it happens, the agencies are barred from giving you more than a 120-day promotion. As far as the FLRA is concerned, (and the IRS, too) they can exploit you for a whole year, pay you 120 days at a higher grade and say "Whoops....sorry" about the rest. Both National NTEU and Chapter 53 are studying this issue but at the present time it appears to be a dead end. |
CHAPTER PRESIDENT'S COMMENT |
I wanted to write this short piece to the readers of The Brooklyn Dodger. As you will see in another article in this edition, two key people in Chapter 53 will have retired by the time you read this. Joe Conti and Bob Schillaci were key elements in successful representation of employees. Bob, through his God-given ability, became the most well-read person in all of NTEU. He gave Chapter 53 recognition well beyond its membership numbers. He is the founder of and the key element in The Brooklyn Dodger. Every chapter official I have ever met always has the same question, "Where is my Brooklyn Dodger." He and I may be radicals in the NTEU system, but the way he organizes and phrases his articles puts us in the position of being envied by other chapters. In addition he created and maintained our web site. At a time when it seems most NTEU chapters are giving up on their web sites, Bob has made sure that Chapter 53's is growing. As if this were not enough he has represented numerous employees and succeeded in getting them awards, promotions, and reversals of incorrect disciplinary actions. He has given up many an evening and weekend working on union matters. As with Joe Conti, Bob has assured us that he is only retiring from the IRS, not the union. I am pleased that he will be available on a consultation basis and will continue to edit The Dodger and the Web Site . . . even from Phoenix. Joe Conti has evolved into the ultimate employees' representative in TIGTA matters. Whenever there is a need and the request is made, Joe appears or guides other stewards on what to do and how to do it with TIGTA. Even though Joe will not own up to it, he is the employees' version of an ACLU defense attorney. His successes on behalf of scores of employees are too numerous to mention and employee privacy will not allow it. Joe likes to work quietly in the background on these things but Joe also assures me that he, too, is retiring from the IRS not the union. Both individuals have had long and distinguished careers. I wish them a healthy, happy retirement because they've earned it. George Greenberg |
This will be a personal note. On December 31, 2004, I submitted my resignation as Chief Steward of Chapter 53. Chapter President, George Greenberg, has appointed Michael O'Grady to that position. No one has studied more or worked harder to learn the intricacies of Union representation than Mike. Few people understand the frustration of trying to figure out what the IRS is up to, especially when it changes its structure more frequently than some people change their underwear. Mike has made understanding those changes a priority. It may not help when it comes to figuring out what they are going to do because it always seems that the IRS does not know what it is doing until after it does it. Nonetheless, it is our job to react to their provocations and Mike is surely ready for the challenge. I want to make it clear that I am only retiring from the IRS, not from the union. NTEU has been a 25 year labor of love. I will serve out my term as Executive Vice President and represent the chapter at the NTEU convention in San Diego in August, 2005. It will be a lot cheaper and easier to get there from my new home near Phoenix than for anyone else to fly out from New York. The IRS? It can rot and burn in hell for all I care. I will be continuing as editor of The Brooklyn Dodger and I will continue to serve as webmaster for the Chapter web site as well as serving as a consultant for the rest of the steward cadre. The realities of modern communication via e-mail or telephone make this feasible until such time as others are ready to pick up the flag and carry on. In addition, since the union is permitted to have as many retiree stewards as it likes, I have accepted that position. There are so many cases in the arbitration pipeline on which I will have to consult with our attorneys that being "retired" becomes almost meaningless. I will not let the IRS win a case by default. I was asked the other day what were the highlights of 25 years labor management conflict. I narrowed it down to two specific incidents. The first was 20 years ago. We were doing an oral reply in a disciplinary case with that well-known friend of the working man, Assistant District Director, Donald Mitgang. The employee finally lost his temper with Mitgang's arrogance and slammed his hand on the table and screamed at Mitgang: "You think you're such hot shit...my plumber makes more than you!" The look on Mitgang's face was priceless. The second was far more complicated but went something like this. In 1992 the IRS had a flirtation with Japanese Management techniques. I wrote a story which suggested that if the IRS were really interested in Japanese ideas they should go all out and adopt "Executive Responsibility" citing the example of the president of their railroad system who committed suicide after a train wreck. I suggested that if they really wanted to "inspire the troops" the Chiefs of Exam and Collection should kill themselves if cycle time or overage were too high. I closed the article by saying "Banzai, Nat." Now, Nat Donato, Chief of Exam, never got over that. He periodically whined about it for years. Meanwhile the labor-management relationship in the old Brooklyn district continued to deteriorate to something that was a cross between a mine field and a toxic waste dump. Things got so bad that the National Office sent in a facilitator (at $3,000 per day!) to defuse the situation. One of his ideas was to have a "bitch session" wherein all the old resentments could be brought up and gotten out of the way so both sides could move on. We had a laundry list of things but knew that the number one complaint they would have was the Brooklyn Dodger. For that reason, we brought the archives along for reference. Sure as anything, the Dodger was topic #1. Nat Donato started whining about us telling him to kill himself and I started flipping back until I found the article in question Now, Herb Huff, who was District Director at the time, had this routine where he sat with the 'union guys' cause he was a two bit phony. Anyway, he was sitting next to me and literally pushing my arm down so he could read over my shoulder. All the management types were sitting there with stone faces while Nat whined except Huff. He got to the punchline of the story, started laughing and finally said to Donato, "I'm sorry, but this is funny." With that all of the management side cracked up and Donato got pissed and started yelling at them. George Greenberg and I looked at each other as if to say "what just happened here?" By then we were all laughing at Nat, too, and that may have been the only agreement that the IRS got for its $3,000 that day. Anyway, it was a good run but 33 years of putting up with the fools who run the IRS is more than enough. I wish all of you well but keep your eye on the finish line and start planning for the day when you can bail out as well. There is life after the IRS. And, if any of you RAs runs into Nat Donato while he is repping on one of your cases, tell him Bob says "Banzai!" - Bob Schillaci |
SHOW US THE MONEY |
Imagine a situation where employees contribute to a fund to be used for their future benefit. The fund is then taken over by a management official with no accounting of revenue or expenses. Requests to review books and records of this fund are ignored and the contributors are left wondering what happened to the monies they committed to this fund. Enron and Kenneth Lay? Guess again. Tyco and Dennis Koslowski? Not quite. The situation just described involves Territory Manager, George Field, and the Garden City Fitness Center Fund. When the Fitness Center opened any employee (BU or NBU) who wanted to use the facility was required to become a member and pay a $50 annual fee. This fee was used to pay an on-site trainer and to repair/maintain the equipment. This annual fee was collected for 2 years until the trainer quit. The original Fitness Center Agreement called for a Committee consisting of an equal number of Bargaining Unit Employees and Management Officials. When a BU person resigned from the Committee management was supposed to notify the Union so we could appoint another BU person to the committee. As we know all too well there are a lot of things management should do but doesn't do. There is an entire book, the 2002 National Agreement that contains things management should do but neglects to do! Eventually all the BU people resigned from the Fitness Center Committee and were not replaced because management failed to live up to their obligation. This left George Field in TOTAL CONTROL of the Garden City Fitness Center Fund. Earlier in 2004 when there were rumors of IRS closing all the fitness centers, NTEU Chapter 53 asked George Field about the Fitness Center Fund. In his usual arrogant manner he ignored this inquiry. Pursuant to the contract Chapter 53 submitted negotiable proposals concerning the Fitness Center. One proposal demands a COMPLETE AUDIT of the Garden City Fitness Center Fund. In October 2004 the IRS did something of an about face. The IRS and National NTEU entered into an agreement whereby the IRS will continue to pay for space and maintenance of the fitness centers currently in place. The agreement also calls for the IRS to repair fitness center equipment internally or if the IRS cannot repair the equipment internally, subject to the availability of funds, the IRS will repair the equipment externally or replace the equipment with a similar make and model. Now that the cost of repairs will be borne by the IRS, the need for the Garden City Fitness Center Fund is very much in question. It seems to us that any money remaining in this fund should be refunded, pro-rata, to the original contributors. The trick is now to find out how much, if any, money is left in the Fitness Center Fund and where it is. As of 12/15/2004, management has not responded to our demand. The Union is in the process of filing an Unfair Labor Practice in this matter. We will see what another agency thinks of their stonewalling. We find it ironic and disgusting that an organization that claims to be in the audit business is so steadfast in ignoring our request for an audit of the Fitness Center Fund. The original money paid to the Fitness Center Fund included money from BU employees. The fact that a fund involving employees' money is being controlled by a Territory Manager without any accountability does not faze the IRS in the least. This is the same organization that holds its BU employees to the highest standard of compliance during their Spanish Inquisition style employee audits. What are they afraid of? |
In Memoriam Carol Costanza |
">
">
">
">
