GAO employees consider union options

Some of the people at the Government Accountability Office think it's a good time to try to organize a union at the investigative arm of Congress now that it's being run by Democrats.

GAO analysts and the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers plan to present hundreds of cards requesting a union vote for 1,500 analysts and investigators to agency officials on Tuesday.

Gay Hee Lee, a senior health care analyst as GAO, said a union would ensure the workers become part of the decision-making process at the watchdog agency. "It's something that we often recommend to other agencies, for all stakeholders to be involved. We're stakeholders in GAO," she said.

More than half of the 1,500 GAO analysts signed cards asking for a vote on becoming a local of the AFL-CIO-affiliated union. Union officials say a vote could happen in the next 45 days.

The IFPTE already represents NASA and Defense Department scientists and engineers, as well as workers at the Congressional Research Service, another legislative branch agency.

Comptroller General David Walker, head of the GAO, said he would have no comment until after a union petition is filed and reviewed by his agency.

"Let me assure you that we are prepared to fully support a timely election process if the union meets the related requirements for a vote," Walker wrote in a February letter to Rep. Albert Wynn, D-Md.

While the union campaign at GAO began last year, the Democrats' takeover of Congress helped, said Paul Shearon, the union's secretary-treasurer.

"GAO is an important government agency, and it can set an example for other institutions of government and industry," said Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a civil rights movement veteran. "It can demonstrate that the empowerment of employees can benefit the well-being of any organization as a whole."

Some GAO analysts have complained about Walker's decision to move the agency away from the federal personnel structure and give more account to market salary rates and job performance when determining pay. The change meant some employees did not receive a raise for 2007.

Walker acknowledged the switch caused problems. "Obviously, reforms that affect an employee's pay and job classification tend to be particularly controversial," he said in an earlier statement.

But GAO recently ranked second in a "Best Place to Work in the Federal Government" survey. The survey was done by the Partnership for Public Service and American University's Institute for the Study of Public Policy Implementation.

___

On the Net:

Government Accountability Office: http://www.gao.gov

International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers: http://www.ifpte.org/