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SOOEY!

(A Negotiations Update)

DATELINE: Washington: 05/30/07.  After several months of grueling negotiations over a new Contract, it seems management has decided they no longer want to be bothered to continue bargaining in this manner.  Instead, they have decided to press for an expedited bargaining process for the proposed upcoming RIFs. In other words, they are in a hurry to get rid of career employees. In response to these demands, the Union negotiators offered a compromise that mirrored a clause from the current AFSME 1418 contract that contains a protective no RIF provision.  The management team refused to discuss the idea.

According to a management negotiator speaking to the Union bargaining team:

"is it your job to ensure that your people continue to feed at the government trough?"

The Union team members were stunned and took great offense at this arrogant, self-righteous statement from this management elitist.  After all, we are the ones who produce the actual product of this Agency.  We are ones who have been subjected to mandatory overtime.  We are the ones who have been forced to work on Holidays.  We are the ones who have been burdened with increasing workloads.  We are the ones who have risked our lives year after year to come to work during weather emergencies.  Just ask our families.

"What is it the Agency really wants?" we asked.  "Does the Agency only want to throw employees out of work?"  The Agency negotiators could only respond with a cliché answer about changing mission priorities.  The Union team offered to work towards a compromise in which the Agency could make their desired changes but without such draconian measures that would have such a terrible impact on its employees.  The management team would not even entertain the possibility of such a concept.

It is obvious to us that the Agency's primary objective is to throw career employees out in the street.

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11 FORMER DIRECTORS DECLARE CUTS TO VOA A MISTAKE

DATELINE: Washington, 03/09/07.  Eleven former VOA Directors issued a statement this week urging Congress to reverse the cuts to VOA language services that were targeted by the BBG through the budget request process.  Those services included Cantonese, Hindi, Russian, Tibetan, Ukrainian,  Uzbek and Worldwide English radio services.  A copy of the press release can be found at:

http://www.afge1812.org/index.cfm?PageToWork=Content_Page_2

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PETITIONS CIRCULATING ONLINE 

DATELINE: Washington, 03/05/07.  There are currently two petitions circulating via the Internet protesting the cuts to the VOA radio services.  One survey primarily deals with the Russian and Ukrainian Services.  The other tackles the Uzbek Service cut. 

The first petition can be found at the following address: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?tl1122

The other is located at: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/voauzbek/petition.html

AFGE Local 1812 encourages everyone to read the petitions and then sign them.

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BBG DESIRES CUT OF 197

DATELINE: Washington, 02/20/07.  The Broadcasting Board of Governors wants to eliminate a total of 197 positions through the FY 2008 budget request process.  153 of those positions would come from the Voice of America.

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AFSCME 1418 and AFGE Local 1812 Jointly Oppose the BBG's Proposed Cuts

WE WILL NEED TO INFORM APPROPRIATIONS MEMBERS OF THE ILL ADVISED CUTS PROPOSED BY THE BBG.  A LIST OF THE MEMBERS FOR BOTH THE HOUSE AND SENATE SUBCOMMITTEES CAN BE FOUND ON THE PRESIDENT'S PAGE.

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THE BBG ANNOUNCES MAJOR CUTS

DATELINE: Washington, 02/05/07.  The Broadcasting Board of Governors is seeking once again to eliminate VOA radio broadcasts in Albanian, Bosnian, Croatian, Hindi, Georgian, Greek, Macedonian, Russian, Serbian, and incredibly the VOA Global English broadcasts.

All these services were targeted in the BBG's FY 2007 budget request but the Board was prevented from making these cuts since the FY 2007 budget was never passed by Congress.  The BBG will apparently operate for the rest of FY 2007 at FY 2006 spending levels.

The only service previously targeted in the FY 2007 budget to survive the cuts is the VOA Turkish Service.

Television broadcasts will remain in Albanian, Bosnian, Hindi, Macedonian, Russian, and Serbian.

Added to the list of cuts in the FY 2008 budget request is the elimination of the VOA Cantonese and Uzbek services.  The VOA Ukrainian, Tibetan, and Portuguese to Africa services will be severely reduced, almost certainly the radio broadcasts will be eliminated.

According to a high ranking IBB official, no RIFs will occur until the FY 2008 budget is passed by Congress and signed by the President.

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THE BBG'S FY 2008 BUDGET REQUEST TO BE RELEASED FEBRUARY 5TH

DATELINE: Washington, 02/01/07:  Upper level management of the IBB and the VOA will brief Union leaders on the details of the BBG's FY 2008 budget request, Monday, February 5th.  All indications are that it will include draconian cuts.

In the meantime, the FY 2007 budget request was rolled into an omnibus budget bill in the House of Representatives.  That bill will keep funding at the FY 2006 level but will add funding to cover employee raises and colas.  The bill does not include earmarks.  It must now go to the Senate which may add earmarks.  If the Senate changes the bill it will have to go to a conference committee.

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THE BUDGET BILL FOR THE BBG LIKELY TO BE ROLLED INTO AN OMNIBUS BUDGET BILL

Dateline: Washington, 11/15/06.  The budget bill for the BBG passed the full House but did not go to the full Senate.  It is likely that the bill will be rolled into an omnibus bill and that it will be passed before the new Congress takes control in January.  There will probably be an omnibus conference committee and the members of that committee (who will be working on the BBG bill) will be the chairman and ranking members of the Subcommittees who oversee the BBG budget.  They are:

Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs

Chairman: Mitch McConnell  361A Russell Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510  Fax: (202) 224-2499

Ranking Member: Patrick Leahy  433 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510  Fax: (202) 224-3479

Send letters to(with copies to the Senators listed above)

Senator Barbara Mikulski  503 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Fax: (202) 224-8858

U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee for Science, the Departments of State, Justice and Commerce and Related Agencies

Chairman: Frank Wolf 241 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Fax: (202) 225-0437

Ranking Member: Alan Mollohan 2302 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20215 Fax: (202) 225-7564

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CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE

A FISH TALE FROM THE TURTLE TANK

DATELINE: Washington, 11/13/06.  After several weeks of moving swiftly negotiations have bogged down over the issue of using details and reassignments for conduct and performance matters.  The Agency wants to be able to detail or reassign employees for a variety of reasons including conduct and performance but is in no mood to follow procedures that are already in the Contract.  The Union's position is that if the Agency wants to discipline employees or address matters of poor performance by using a detail or a reassignment , it should follow procedures in Article 19 and Article 20.  The Agency's chief negotiator has said that reassignments and details cannot be used for discipline but if they are the Agency is not about to negotiate procedures or appropriate arrangments.  In explaining her position, the Agency's chief negotiator accused the Union of trying "to make a fish into a turtle since they both are cold blooded." "We're just not buying that argument because we just can't figure out what it has to do with any of our proposals," said Tim Shamble, President of AFGE Local 1812.

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SENATE APPROPRIATORS LET THE VOICE DOWN

THANKS TO HOUSE APPROPRIATORS

THE VOA IS NOT YET DOA

(Though It Is Not Over)

HOUSE APPROPRIATORS REVERSE CUTS

DATELINE: Washington, 06/21/06.  The United States House of Representatives Appropriations Committee reversed the request of the Broadcasting Board of Governors decision to cut the Voice of America radio broadcasts in Albanian, Bosnian, English, Hindi, Macedonian, and Russian.  The House Appropriators also reversed the total elimination of broadcasts in Croatian, Georgian, Greek, Turkish, and Thai.

(More on the President's Page)

THE RIGHT THING TO DO

It's not often that we defend management but the removal of VOA reporter Alisha Ryu from the Baghdad Bureau has lead to criticism.  The unnecessary budget cuts to the Voice of America have insured that the Agency cannot guarantee even minimal safety standards for its reporters.

VOA personnel have been sent on dangerous assignments without adequate safety protections or self-defense training, and Iraq has proven to be especially risky for journalists as the recent story involving Kimberly Dosier has shown.  Even the big corporate news broadcasters cannot keep their employees safe there.  Under-funded government broadcasters such as the VOA are even less equipped to do so.

Last week a story was planted in the Washington Post about the VOA's closure of the Baghdad Bureau.  The story's purpose was, no doubt, to give the VOA a black eye right before Congress takes up the issue of VOA's funding for FY 2007.  The story by Howard Kurtz is being used by some on Capitol Hill to justify the draconian budget cuts to VOA's radio broadcasts.

But no matter the outcome of the budget debate, the decision by VOA management to remove Alisha Ryu from a life-threatening situation and the hesitancy to put another reporter in the same situation were the right decisions.

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FIVE U.S. SENATORS SEND BUSH LETTER ASKING TO STOP THE CUTS

SITES PROVIDED FOR INFORMATION ON EARLY RETIREMENTS & BUY OUTS ON RIF PAGE

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FIVE FORMER VOA DIRECTORS OPPOSE THE RADIO CUTS 

DATELINE: Washington, 03/30/06.  VOA Directors from the Reagan era to the present administration have publicly weighed in against the cuts of the VOA shortwave radio broadcasts proposed by the Broadcasting Board of Governors in its FY 2007 budget request.  Sanford Ungar and Geoffrey Cowan, who served under President Clinton, Richard Carlson, who served under President George H.W. Bush and President Reagan, and Eugene Pell and John Hughes who served under President Reagan all stated publicly that the proposed cuts are a mistake.

The Board has been eliminating VOA radio broadcast services for a number of years starting in the 1990s in order to fund expensive and unfocused television projects that have little or no value.  So far the Board has eliminated language service radio broadcasts to Brazil, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and severely cut back its global English broadcasts.

Now the Board would like to eliminate radio broadcasts in Albanian, Bosnian, Croatian, Georgian, Greek, Hindi, Macedonian, Russian, Serbian, Thai, Turkish, and completely wipe out its global English broadcasts.

According to the Board the latest round of cuts is necessary to fund its broadcast efforts to the Middle East and the Islamic world.  But that excuse makes little sense in light of the fact that the Board is proposing the elimination of the Turkish broadcasts as well as the elimination of the radio broadcasts to the Balkan nations which have large Islamic populations.

The cuts are really meant to fund the multitude of uncoordinated television projects.  The Board has had a healthy increase in its funding each year since 9/11 in which to produce broadcasts to the Middle East and the Islamic world.  The proposed budget for FY 2007 is $671 million.  That is an increase of $231 million over its FY 2001 budget.  The largest portion of the increases have been wasted on the failed Radio Sawa and Alhurra TV boondoggles.

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ADMINISTRATION'S ANTI-EMPLOYEE NSPS SUFFERS JUDICIAL SMACKDOWN

Dateline: WASHINGTON, 02/28/06.  U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled Monday that the Department of Defense could not implement the adverse actions, appeals, and labor-management relations sections of its NSPS.

The DOD NSPS was challenged by a coalition of Unions led by AFGE.  The DOD must now decide whether it will appeal the ruling.

Judge Sullivan's decision parallels the decision rendered in NTEU v. Chertoff.

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POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK

Dateline: WASHINGTON, 02/24/06.  On February 6, 2006 the Broadcasting Board of Governors announced that it would be closing all radio broadcasts in Albanian, Bosnian, Croatian, Georgian, Greek, Hindi, Russian, Serbian, Thai, Turkish, and its global English service. 

Although presented as a choice between broadcasts to the Middle East and these language broadcasts, it is really a choice between many radio broadcasts and a few television broadcasts.  The cuts mentioned above will be used to fund upgrades to the BBG's television production facilities.

According to BBG Chairman, Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, those who support shortwave radio broadcasts "are kind of like the people who wanted to preserve...horse-drawn buggies."  However, it is Tomlinson and his Board who are stuck in the past.  They support replacing radio broadcasts with television broadcasts as if television is some sort of brand new technology.  Television has been commercially viable since 1949.  People back then predicted that television was the wave of the future and that it spelled the end of radio.  Almost sixty years later radio is still alive and thriving.

The problem with television broadcasting for this Agency has not changed.  It is easily interdicted.  This is not a new lesson for this Agency.  It has been dealing with this issue since TV Marti went on the air.  It has recently been reinforced with the problems of the television broadcasts to Uzbekistan and Indonesia.  Where television is blocked shortwave radio can get through.

The old BBG television/buggy folks refuse to see the obvious.  The future of broadcasting is the Internet where audio, video, and text can all be combined.  There is no need to sink more and more money into the black hole of television broadcasting in multiple language services.

And as to tight budgets, does the BBG really care about saving the taxpayers of this country money? Their budget requests have gone up every year.  Even the FY 2007 budget request is an increase over the previous year.  The BBG is just spending the money unwisely.  The BBG's television plans are unfocused and wasteful. Let's look at the costs.  To fund these various uncoordinated television projects the BBG has jettisoned VOA radio broadcasts in over ten language services so far: Brazilian, Bulgarian, Czech, Estonian, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Slovak, and Slovene.  Now they will add twelve more: Albanian, Bosnian, Croatian, Georgian, Greek, Hindi, Macedonian, Russian, Serbian, Thai, Turkish, and global English.  At a time when this country should be communicating as much as possible with the rest of the world cutting 22 languages is too high a cost.  Especially if the money is being spent on wasteful television projects just for the sake of doing TV.  The cutting of the radio broadcasts are unnecessary and in the case of the English broadcasts especially galling.  If you had to cut all the other broadcasts at least you could reach a large portion of the population in the various countries via English broadcasts.  It has been seriously hinted on Capitol Hill that the real reason these cuts are being made is to punish employees for speaking out to Congress.  It is hard to ignore the fact that VOA Director David S. Jackson warned employees in his funereal meetings with the various affected language services that contacting Congress had a way of "backfiring" against employees. 

Before any more radio broadcasts are eliminated the BBG should be forced to develop a focused television plan. And all minutes of their meetings where these decisions have been made should be released.  Afterall they do not own the Voice of America.  The VOA is owned by the American people.  These decisions should be opened to full debate. Isn't that the idea of democracy? Decisions on what language services should be cut and whether the VOA radio broadcasts should be converted to television broadcasts should not be made by a group of eight individuals who may have their own private interests at heart.

The money spent on televison should be consolidated. A television satellite broadcast channel with CSPAN type programming interspersed with occasional newscasts in limited strategic languages would make sense.  Important congressional hearings, major speeches, and government briefings could be covered and the rest of the world could witness American democracy at work. 

The bedrock of the VOICE of America is English and the VOA should broadcast news and information in English 24/7 globally on shortwave. This can be supplemented with AM and FM affiliates and as many other language broadcasts as possible.

The money now being poured into television projects should be redirected to an Internet product which could be vastly improved and made world class.

So BBG members, put away your horse and buggy television shows and concentrate on getting America's message out to the world in the most effective and cost efficient manner possible.

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