Employee Meeting - NRC

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Having said that, one of my biggest challenges as a
new Chapter President has been how to represent almost 2,700
bargaining unit employees with myself being the only designated
full-time Union employee. Just providing office coverage, especially
during this time of the year, my favorite season -- and by that, I mean
the performance appraisal season -- it isn't easy. My secret weapon
thus far has been to somehow convince high-performing, motivated
individuals to step up and help out.
And I would like to address this to the Chairman, the
Commissioners, and the EDO. Meeting the needs of such a large
bargaining unit with only one dedicated FTE will continue to be a
challenge, especially with the possibility of another government
shutdown in early 2014.
So, what have we done since this time last year?
Well, about this time last year, we were involved in mid-term bargaining,
renegotiating five of the 57 Articles in the Collective Bargaining
Agreement, the agreement between the Agency and NTEU which
covers all of our bargaining unit's working conditions.
The Union was able to reach agreement, and, in fact,
make some gains on three of the Articles. These Articles were equal
employment opportunity, mid-term bargaining, and grievance
procedures.
The other two Articles, performance appraisals and
performance awards, reached an impasse, and we spent four days with
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an independent mediator.
Agency on both Articles.
The mediator decided in favor of the