1/11/10 Union News

Union Members Ratify Across-the-Board Pay Increase; PBC Still Being Determined

Union members have voted 96.7% in favor of the proposed Annual Pay Adjustment for 2010 across-the-board pay. As you know, this vote is only one part of the 2010 pay increase.  This means the 2010 across-the-board pay adjustment for GAO employees will be equivalent to annual across-the-board raises for Executive Branch employees paid under the General Schedule in their location. This ratified annual adjustment to salary applies to all bargaining unit employees, including those in the PDP and CAPP programs. It does not include merit-based raises that are calculated under the Performance Based Compensation (PBC), which are still being negotiated by the Union and GAO management.* The participation of the Union membership in this ratification vote is notable: about 75% of the membership voted in this ratification voting period.

This pay agreement provides that all employees who received a “meets expectations” for all competencies in their most recent rating will receive the across-the-board pay raise added to their permanent salary, regardless of pay caps or the Band IIB speed bump (up to the equivalent of GS-15, step 10). For employees in Washington, D.C., for example, the pay adjustment is 2.42 percent of your salary. This salary increase will be processed so that employees will receive it when they receive their pay for the first pay period in 2010. The adjustment differs based on your location (see GS Locality Increases table). In addition, the salary range maximums and competitive rates will be increased by 2.42 percent for all offices.

*PBC does not apply to Bargaining Unit employees working in the PDP and CAPP systems, which have a separate system for merit-based raises that occurs every six months.

2010 PBC Negotiations to Resume on January 20

The Union and GAO bargaining teams held sessions last week on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to continue discussions over the 2010 performance-based compensation (PBC) and related components of this year’s pay raise. The PBC is the portion of the 2010 pay raise that is directly linked to employees’ performance ratings for the 2009 rating year. Agreement has not yet been reached on the amount of pay the agency will provide for the performance that employees have demonstrated in the past year. Here is some context for prior years' across-the board raises, PBC percentage budget factors, as well as the increase in GAO’s appropriation for that year:

FY 2005 – 2010 Budget Increase and Pay Increases for D.C.-based Staff

GAO management informed non-bargaining unit employees on Friday, January 8, that they would receive a 2.2 percent PBC for 2010. This amount is not consistent with the PBC that GAO employees have received in the last two years since the Union began negotiating pay increases, or with previous years' increases relative to GAO’s annual budget increases. Considering the outstanding performance GAO employees have demonstrated in the past year, especially through their nimble work on unique oversight issues, we believe that greater recognition of employees’ performance is warranted. To inform these negotiations, the Union requested additional information from GAO regarding the resources involved in the performance rating process for employees in the bargaining unit as well as their involvement in the significant oversight work that’s been conducted for the U.S. Congress in the past year. Though the Union specifically requested that the parties remain at the table, GAO said it needs time to gather the information requested and some additional time for analysis. GAO stated that the negotiations will resume on January 20.

The Union and GAO management have agreed that any agreement on PBC pay will be retroactive to the first pay period of 2010.

**The “overall average pay increase” is the increase in pay that a D.C.-based analyst or specialist would get whose salary is at the competitive rate of the band and who received an average rating for his or her band within his or her Team. The actual pay increase analysts receive would vary based on their location, salary, and rating.

Coming Soon: Survey of Priorities for Master Contract Negotiations

In the coming days, the Union will survey all bargaining unit members to learn your priorities for improving GAO!  After months of work, a group of Union volunteers, working with the Union Assembly and officers, have prepared a survey on a variety of topics vital to our work life at GAO.  This survey is important because Union volunteers are working with management to negotiate our first master contract, which will be a comprehensive agreement between the Union and GAO management establishing the rights and responsibilities of each, and defining the terms and conditions of employment. The master contract gives us the chance to build on what we value most about working at GAO and to negotiate improvement.

Currently, the terms and conditions of employment are based on past practices and existing GAO orders, or changes that have been negotiated between our Union and management. The master contract will supercede existing GAO Orders, for those issues that are included in the master contract.

The purpose of this survey, which is being distributed to every member of the bargaining unit, is to:

-gauge your level of interest in addressing the importance of each topic;
-give you the chance to suggest additional topics; and
-identify what is working and what is not working at GAO.

We will ensure that all answers will be kept completely confidential and we are looking forward to getting your opinions and the opinions of all GAO analysts and specialists.

Past Communiques

1/05/10: Vote on Across-the-Board Pay; PBC Negotiations Continue
12/15/09: 2010 Pay Negotiations Begin December 11, 2009
11/20/09:  Award Nominations for Union Volunteers; Performance Appraisal System study released; TVA Engineers Join IFPTE
11/03/09:  Master Contract Process Agreement; Sick Leave Change; Annual Union Meeting on Dec.2
10/22/09:  New Terms for VPs ASM Union Delegate Departs, Chicago Agreement Background
09/22/09:  Union Officer Nominations, FMA Staffing Improvements
09/16/09:  Feedback Survey, IFPTE Convention Report, Payroll Dues, and more