1/5/10 Special Union News
Union Members to Vote on Proposal for Across-the-Board Raises

The GAO Union Assembly has approved a negotiated proposal for a Union ratification vote that would make 2010 across-the-board cost-of-living adjustments equivalent to raises for Executive Branch employees paid under the General Schedule.  These raise percentages to base salaries, officially known as "annual adjustments," are determined by the Office of Personnel Management and vary based on location. An explanation of "2010 GS Locality Increases by GAO Office Location," which also contains information about changes to 2010 salary ranges and competitive rates, is attached to this email.

Union members will have the opportunity to vote whether to accept these annual adjustment raises. Online ballots will be distributed to union members on Wednesday and voting will remain open until Sunday, January 10, at 8 p.m. Eastern time. This deadline is the latest the Union can keep voting open and still provide the Union Elections Committee time to tabulate and affirm the voting results before GAO’s Monday deadline for raises to take effect in the first pay period for 2010.

This proposal for annual adjustments 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.¹

¹ 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.

Although PBC negotiations are continuing between the GAO Union and management, GAO management was expected to inform non-bargaining unit employees earlier today that they would receive a 2.2 percent PBC for 2010 in addition to the same annual adjustment negotiated by the Union. The 2.2 percent performance-based raise would be for average performance, with some receiving less and some receiving more based on a formula known as SRS, or Standardized Rating Score.

The Union believes the PBC amount provided to non-bargaining unit employees does not fully reflect the level of performance achieved by GAO analysts and specialists in the past year.  This amount is not consistent with the PBC that GAO employees have received in the recent past, nor is it consistent with raises provided within other parts of the federal government. Considering the outstanding performance GAO employees have demonstrated in the past year, especially through their work on TARP and ARRA—or through filling in for employees diverted to TARP and ARRA work—we believe that greater recognition of employees’ performance is warranted.

The Union also continues to support the alternative SRS formula, which was ratified by the membership last year and leads to less variation in pay raises than the original SRS still in place for non-bargaining unit employees.  The findings of GAO’s Performance Appraisal Study, which was released in November, further confirms the Union’s reservations about the original SRS formula and affirms the decision to use the alternative SRS as a more equitable process for distributing merit-based raises. The PAS study raised a number of challenges associated with measuring individual employee contributions to GAO’s mission, and the alternative SRS helps to mitigate these inequities when calculating pay raises.

The Union and GAO management have agreed that any agreement on PBC pay will be retroactive.  We will keep you informed of developments in the negotiation process as they unfold.

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