Eager to make hard what should be simple, AML manager, John Post, proved recently that were it not for his age, he would go far in the IRS. He managed to take the minor task of adding an agent to his group and turn it into a full scale fiasco. Of course, he had help.....Labor Relations and Mike Bernstein got involved and that is a recipe for disaster. The agent was assigned to Hauppauge where there is an established practice that when cubicles become open the union solicits interest and the most senior employee gets his/her pick. Rather than follow this, Post made his first mistake and contacted Commissioner's Rep, Bernstein. Chairman Mike, behaving like a red-lining real estate broker, showed the employee a few empty workstations, including some that do not meet the standards for agents. We suspect that Chairman Mike led the employee to the slums because he wasn't in Bernstein's territory and thus could not contribute to Chairman Mike's Territory Plan and therefore was fairly irrelevant in the Chairman's mind. We filed a grievance against Post. On 1/18/06, Patricia Jary, the steward delegated to handle seating arrangements in the Hauppauge POD received an E-mail from Post. Post wrote that he had added an agent in Hauppauge and "I wish to work with NTEU so that we accommodate 'past practice' regarding his seating arrangement.' The Union considered this a satisfactory resolution to the grievance and it was understood that Post would meet with Ms. Jary and the employee to arrange for seating the employee. Post then did a flip-flop to make The Flying Walendas proud. On 1/25/06 Post wrote "Hi Pat, The matter is on hold after my informal discussion with George and Mike yesterday. The reason for this is the possible disagreement upon the suitability of the cubicle." Naturally, we filed a ULP against Post for deliberately rescinding an agreed upon grievance remedy. The matter ended up before the Senior Commissioner's Representative for New York State. The SCR, much to the chagrin of Chairman Mike, agreed with the Union about the existence of a valid established past practice for the Union's active role in cubicle selection by employees in the Hauppauge POD. However, nothing comes easy in the restructured IRS. Ever jealous of what little power they have, the AML L/R Specialist, Trang Nghe, took the position that the SCR for New York State and/or any 'established past practice' could not tell an AML employee where to go. We have no problem telling these people where to go! Finally, over 1 month after Post issued his original E-Mail to Pat Jary, the employee was seated in a proper workstation for an agent. The cubicle selection was made in accordance with the established past practice in the Hauppauge POD of having the Union put out notice of available cubicles to employees and cubicle selections being made on the basis of seniority. What on earth would happen if these people ever had to make an important decision? [Ed. Note- As Mr. Post seems to have forgotten this exchange we are attaching his e-mails... we always save stuff like this for when managers develop "amnesia."] |
We have no other explanation for some of the bizarre behavior demonstrated by various levels of IRS management other than to think that a particularly nasty strain of the Bird Flu, a strain which apparently strikes the brain, has infected them in growing numbers. Experienced managers as well as rookies have been turned into blithering idiots by this pernicious disease. Okay. We'll concede that some of them had a head start on that. The symptoms are that previously normal-seeming managers begin to forget basic personnel rules or simple human decency when it effects their employees or suddenly have an exaggerated view of their own importance and the value of their little function within the IRS hierarchy. In short, some of these people are starting to believe that they really do have important jobs in the federal government! We hope that a supply of straight-jackets is on order. It seems that the disease is contracted when managers spend too much time listening to upper management. We speculate that the virus enters the body through the ears and rapidly undermines the central nervous system. So far, the bargaining unit is immune but it might be a good idea to avoid listening to your manager, just in case. One employee suffered a serious family emergency. In addition to having to care for her children she now has to tend to an ailing parent. This did not stop Manager, Andrew Koehm, and Territory Manager, Norm DeBoisbriand of god-knows-what organization that oversees the Excise Tax program from ordering her to Atlanta, Georgia, for one of those "typically effective" IRS training classes. The employee was already a part-timer because of child care issues but that didn't slow down these two jackasses. They threatened her with AWOL unless she left her children unattended (a crime in New York, by the way) and her parent so she could sit there and fall asleep with everyone else. Perhaps Excise Tax is beginning their own boot camp? How does one say Excise Tax in German? Through the miracles of modern technology a video of this "critically important" training class shows attendees singing a song called, apparently, "I Love Excise Tax" to the tune of "YMCA." For those with decent internet access, here's a link to the Mpeg file we made: http://nteu53.homestead.com/excise.html. One can certainly see why it would be of critical importance for every employee to take part in that little exercise! In a similar vein, W & I manager, Ann Irish, who seems to have contracted a particularly nasty strain, made a similar threat to an employee who needed to leave the country to be with her ill mother during (gasp) the filing season. This from an outfit which spends most of its time telling people that it can't help them because they make too much money. Irish next informed a long time employee who took a 30-day managerial detail that she had "lost her step" because of the detail. Say what? Even W & I's upper management is trying to fix this one but they have a Personnel Branch in Andover, Mass which seems to go by the motto that once a manager makes a mistake it becomes THE LAW. Similarly, an office auditor with all the proper accounting credits was told that she was not eligible for a GS-9 agent position...for reasons which escaped us since this case was won at the national level years ago. This could be less an example of the virus than of IRS management simply hating to lose but for now we'll go with the virus. In either case, Territory Manager, Linda Barthel, less afraid of Personnel than W&I, apparently, stepped in to fix the mess before it got out of hand. Please keep us advised if you detect any sudden outbreaks of Bird Brain Flu in your manager. As employees who have been carefully observing these people for a long time, no one is in a better position than you to detect odd behavioral changes. |
The Brooklyn Dodger |
Vol. 23, No. 2 The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves May 30, 2006 |
The Pandemic Hits Home IRS Management Stricken By Bird Brain Flu |
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 |
GUEST QUOTATIONS |
OBITUARY - Peter Grimaldi |
An LMSB Agent notes: Tax Enforcement today is like going after a bear with a fly swatter. Discussing the award given by Chairman Mike Bernstein to his top manager one wag noted: The top rated guy got lunch with Mike...the runner-up got two lunches. Employee Engagement is more like a shotgun wedding. |
The Princess's New Port-a-Potty |
Poster Boy for Bad Labor Relations |
You Can't Make This Stuff Up |
We have no other explanation for some of the bizarre behavior demonstrated by various levels of IRS management other than to think that a particularly nasty strain of the Bird Flu, a strain which apparently strikes the brain, has infected them in growing numbers. Experienced managers as well as rookies have been turned into blithering idiots by this pernicious disease. Okay. We'll concede that some of them had a head start on that. The symptoms are that previously normal-seeming managers begin to forget basic personnel rules or simple human decency when it effects their employees or suddenly have an exaggerated view of their own importance and the value of their little function within the IRS hierarchy. In short, some of these people are starting to believe that they really do have important jobs in the federal government! We hope that a supply of straight-jackets is on order. It seems that the disease is contracted when managers spend too much time listening to upper management. We speculate that the virus enters the body through the ears and rapidly undermines the central nervous system. So far, the bargaining unit is immune but it might be a good idea to avoid listening to your manager, just in case. One employee suffered a serious family emergency. In addition to having to care for her children she now has to tend to an ailing parent. This did not stop Manager, Andrew Koehm, and Territory Manager, Norm DeBoisbriand of god-knows-what organization that oversees the Excise Tax program from ordering her to Atlanta, Georgia, for one of those "typically effective" IRS training classes. The employee was already a part-timer because of child care issues but that didn't slow down these two jackasses. They threatened her with AWOL unless she left her children unattended (a crime in New York, by the way) and her parent so she could sit there and fall asleep with everyone else. Perhaps Excise Tax is beginning their own boot camp? How does one say Excise Tax in German? Through the miracles of modern technology a video of this "critically important" training class shows attendees singing a song called, apparently, "I Love Excise Tax" to the tune of "YMCA." For those with decent internet access, here's a link to the Mpeg file we made: http://nteu53.homestead.com/excise.html. One can certainly see why it would be of critical importance for every employee to take part in that little exercise! In a similar vein, W & I manager, Ann Irish, who seems to have contracted a particularly nasty strain, made a similar threat to an employee who needed to leave the country to be with her ill mother during (gasp) the filing season. This from an outfit which spends most of its time telling people that it can't help them because they make too much money. Irish next informed a long time employee who took a 30-day managerial detail that she had "lost her step" because of the detail. Say what? Even W & I's upper management is trying to fix this one but they have a Personnel Branch in Andover, Mass which seems to go by the motto that once a manager makes a mistake it becomes THE LAW. Similarly, an office auditor with all the proper accounting credits was told that she was not eligible for a GS-9 agent position...for reasons which escaped us since this case was won at the national level years ago. This could be less an example of the virus than of IRS management simply hating to lose but for now we'll go with the virus. In either case, Territory Manager, Linda Barthel, less afraid of Personnel than W&I, apparently, stepped in to fix the mess before it got out of hand. Please keep us advised if you detect any sudden outbreaks of Bird Brain Flu in your manager. As employees who have been carefully observing these people for a long time, no one is in a better position than you to detect odd behavioral changes. |
Given the ongoing IRS fiasco over the contracting out of collection work, here are four comments, from a federal news service, from non-IRS employees. You might find it refreshing to know that other federal employees see things that we can see - but which management cannot. A Budget Analyst with the Department of the Army says: Hmmm... let's see now. 24% of $1.4 BILLION is $336 million dollars in lost revenue to the Treasury! I don't see how that helps the government or the taxpayer. Nevermind that it opens up a whole 'nother can of worms regarding debt collection practices. Can anyone say PANDORA'S BOX? A Contract Manager with the V.A. says: Has anyone at the IRS lost their job for letting this get out of hand? I think not? The IRS should be chastised and employees fired for letting this get so far out of hand. If Congressional pressure was used they should have their names published also. A Budget Analyst from the Defense Department: It is so amazing that the government/IRS does not want to add employees to the payroll, but are willing to pay millions to contractors - sleazy and otherwise. The money is being spent, so why not hire its own employees. And it should be no surprise that these debt collectors are sleazeballs. It is the nature of the business. Also, what guarantees are in place to make sure the debt collectors are not using off-shore/outsourced call centers? And no matter how much oversight the agency has, I feel that our personal data can be compromised. And, the best, from a Management Analyst with the Department of Justice: If Congress only had the attention span of my teenager, they could remember that they tried this before and it didn't work. They had hearings about the abusive tactics of these private collectors and said, "Never again!" |
It is with a deep sense of loss that we note the passing of recent retiree, Peter Grimaldi, long-time Treasurer and former President of Chapter 53. While many of you may recall Pete's 5 terms as Treasurer his presidency goes back to the early-1980's and a time of deep divisiveness in the chapter. Pete, even though he taught accounting at Suffolk Community College would be the first to agree that the Treasurer stuff was pretty boring so to honor his memory we'll tell the tale of his presidency. The tale began in 1982 when George Braverman, then President of the Chapter, decided to retire in the middle of his term. To a make long story a little shorter, Braverman tried to hand select his own successor, one Anthony Copperill. Complaints were raised to National NTEU and the National President, Vince Connery, assigned none other than Robert Tobias to investigate. Tobias' findings, signed by Connery, found that Braverman had essentially broken every rule in the book. Tobias ordered that nominations for the office of President be solicited from the membership and then the Executive Board would elect an interim president, as per the bylaws at the time, for the duration of Braverman's term. The nominees were Copperill, current President, George Greenberg, and thanks to some unknown genius, Pete Grimaldi. The chapter at that time was deeply divided between the Old Guard who supported Braverman and the Young Turks who supported Greenberg. The board at the time, reduced to 8 people because of several retirements, not the least of which was Braverman's, reflected this division and went through seven rounds of voting with the same result: Copperill 4 - Greenberg 4- Grimaldi 0. Finally grasping the reality that they were hopelessly deadlocked, when the 8th ballot was taken, it was Grimaldi 8 - Greenberg 0 and Copperill 0. With his easy going personality and self-deprecating sense of humor, Pete was the ideal compromise choice to get everyone calmed down, fix the problems which Tobias had detected with the chapter's operations and run the next election in 1984. Pete made it clear he had no plan to run for President and was easily elected Treasurer while George Greenberg defeated one of the last of Braverman's holdovers, Marilyn Munter. We often wondered what might have happened that night in Mineola if Pete had not been available as an alternative for the Board. Would we have still been sitting there? Pete would have found the concept highly amusing... but that's the way he was. Rest in Peace, Grimmer. Pete's family has asked that we add their expression of appreciation for the outpouring of support and condolence from his friends and co-workers and we are only too glad to honor that request in their time of sorrow. |
Once upon a time in the IRS facility at Garden City there was a commoner who thought she was a princess. The belief among the inhabitants was that the role of this commoner was to serve as an assistant to the Commissioner's Representative of Garden City, a man who, let's face it, needs some help. This C/R, and all those who had come before him, had dealt with the daunting tasks of controlling this beast of an IRS office which started life as a warehouse and, frankly, should have remained one. This Beast freezes the inhabitants in the winter and boils them in the summer. This Beast denied the inhabitants a flow of clean air and water into the building while not exactly properly expelling all that should flow out. However, Princess Vita did not see herself in this role; she believed that she descended from the royal ruling class of Brookhaven, a growing problem in the IRS as they don't do such a hot job of running that place, either. " No," she thought, "I am royalty. I shall walk around my fiefdom of Garden City not as a humble Commissioner's Rep's assistant but as if I own the goddamn place." Such an attitude inevitably leads to one thing and we have seen it manifested many times before. The need to express delusions of grandeur in monumental architecture be it the Sphinx of Egypt or Trump Tower. At some point the individual with an overgrown sense of entitlement says: "After all I am a princess and I don't deserve to sit in a cubicle like the common folk. No, I deserve a castle worthy of my royal standing." Legend has it that elves came in and built her new castle, but we suspect it was the Facilities Branch from Brookhaven that built the porta-potty like structure on the 2nd floor of the Garden City office that her "majesty" now calls her 'workstation.' Like any good castle, this edifice insulates her from the people who have the nerve to believe she is there to assist them. All it needs is a moat and the next time the roof leaks she'll doubtlessly get that. The chapter leadership has heard from many of its members who dared approach "her majesty" with a building issue and were told in the usual condescending tone to "Put in a ticket or tell your manager." These are among the most common brush-offs our members are given by the princess and in that she has not improved on any of the earlier manifestations of what passes for "building maintenance.". They all learn the same trick. Our chapter leaders are not even immune from this type of treatment. An E-mail written by one of officers raising concerns over the drinking water in this dump of an office was met with a note to the effect that the issue was forwarded 'elsewhere.' We are left to wonder exactly what functions does "her majesty" perform behind those high walls of the fortress that she calls her workstation. Alas, it appears we have another individual inhabiting space and once again reminding us of the old adage of government service: Such Big Egos for Such Little Money. We wouldn't even mind the real estate grab if it brought more than a sense of inflated self importance to the incumbent. In other words, DO SOMETHING. Even feudal lords had to provide some 'service" to the peasants. If they reacted to every Viking raid by ignoring their responsibility and duty whenever possible they'd have been out on their noble butts in short order. No one who reports a Viking raid wants to be told to get a ticket number. These type of individuals are all too numerous in IRS management. In fact, they run the place. |
Chapter 53's, Bob Wolfson, rarely seen without a coffee cup in his hand, nonetheless shows that normal sized human beings cannot see into the Assistant Commissioner's Rep's new bunker. |
Eager to make hard what should be simple, AML manager, John Post, proved recently that were it not for his age, he would go far in the IRS. He managed to take the minor task of adding an agent to his group and turn it into a full scale fiasco. Of course, he had help.....Labor Relations and Mike Bernstein got involved and that is a recipe for disaster. The agent was assigned to Hauppauge where there is an established practice that when cubicles become open the union solicits interest and the most senior employee gets his/her pick. Rather than follow this, Post made his first mistake and contacted Commissioner's Rep, Bernstein. Chairman Mike, behaving like a red-lining real estate broker, showed the employee a few empty workstations, including some that do not meet the standards for agents. We suspect that Chairman Mike led the employee to the slums because he wasn't in Bernstein's territory and thus could not contribute to Chairman Mike's Territory Plan and therefore was fairly irrelevant in the Chairman's mind. We filed a grievance against Post. On 1/18/06, Patricia Jary, the steward delegated to handle seating arrangements in the Hauppauge POD received an E-mail from Post. Post wrote that he had added an agent in Hauppauge and "I wish to work with NTEU so that we accommodate 'past practice' regarding his seating arrangement.' The Union considered this a satisfactory resolution to the grievance and it was understood that Post would meet with Ms. Jary and the employee to arrange for seating the employee. Post then did a flip-flop to make The Flying Walendas proud. On 1/25/06 Post wrote "Hi Pat, The matter is on hold after my informal discussion with George and Mike yesterday. The reason for this is the possible disagreement upon the suitability of the cubicle." Naturally, we filed a ULP against Post for deliberately rescinding an agreed upon grievance remedy. The matter ended up before the Senior Commissioner's Representative for New York State. The SCR, much to the chagrin of Chairman Mike, agreed with the Union about the existence of a valid established past practice for the Union's active role in cubicle selection by employees in the Hauppauge POD. However, nothing comes easy in the restructured IRS. Ever jealous of what little power they have, the AML L/R Specialist, Trang Nghe, took the position that the SCR for New York State and/or any 'established past practice' could not tell an AML employee where to go. We have no problem telling these people where to go! Finally, over 1 month after Post issued his original E-Mail to Pat Jary, the employee was seated in a proper workstation for an agent. The cubicle selection was made in accordance with the established past practice in the Hauppauge POD of having the Union put out notice of available cubicles to employees and cubicle selections being made on the basis of seniority. What on earth would happen if these people ever had to make an important decision? [Ed. Note- As Mr. Post seems to have forgotten this exchange we are attaching his e-mails... we always save stuff like this for when managers develop "amnesia."] |
Recently we requested an air quality test on the north side of the 2nd floor of the Garden City office. To our surprise Facilities agreed to do the test without the arm twisting that is usually required to get them to act. What ensued was a bizarre scene that reminded the NTEU officials in attendance of the movie "Men in Black". The Facilities "tester" was dressed like a secret government agent. In his possession was a locked briefcase. One wag remarked: "You'd think he was carrying plutonium in that briefcase." The "tester" opened the briefcase and took out a sprayer roughly the size of an inhaler. He then asked the Chapter 53 officials present if they had asthma or any other allergies. When they replied 'no,' he sprayed the equivalent of "a half a puff of cigarette smoke" from this device, observed it for roughly 5 seconds and declared the air quality of the building to be acceptable. When questioned about carbon monoxide levels or the possibility of mold spores the"tester" replied "If those things were present people would be laying on the floor." Upon which our tester packed up his secret agent briefcase and left. The entire "test" took less than 10 minutes and did little to inspire our confidence in management's concern for the health and safety of the employees. We are curious to see what they are really inhaling out there in Facilities. |
