CBP ADVANCED TRACK

1. LEGISLATION Priority Issues Grassroots Activity TEPAC CBP ADVANCED TRACK

2. Legislation and Membership • Top reasons members give for why they joined NTEU: • Better pay raises • Retirement benefits • Healthcare benefits • Job Protection – A76 • Many NTEU members aren’t aware that these are legislative issues • Useful tool for membership building

3. 2009 PRIORITY ISSUES

4. NTEU’s 2009 Priority Issues • Ensuring full Collective Bargaining Rights for TSA, ATF, and DHS • Agency Funding and Limiting Contracting Out • Pay Parity • Reinstating Labor Management Partnerships • Increasing Access and Affordability of Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHBP)/Paid Parental Leave • Retiree Issues

5. Collective Bargaining Rights • Repeal of the Homeland Security Act’s personnel management provisions. • Collective bargaining rights for TSA employees. • Action to overturn the ATF executive order.

6. Agency Funding/Contracting Out • Support for adequate budgets to ensure that federal agencies have the resources necessary to perform their critical missions. • Support for H.R. 1105, that would impose a one year moratorium on new A-76 studies in all federal agencies – UPDATE: PASSED • HR 796 would repeal IRS’ authority to outsource the collection of federal taxes to private collection agencies.

7. CBP Issues • Fully fund CBP Officers, CBP Agriculture Specialists (CBP AS) and CBP Trade Operations staffing needs as stipulated in CBP’s own staffing models. • End the Once Face at the Border Initiative and re-establish CBP Officer and CBP AS inspection specializations. • Establish a CBP AS career ladder and CBP AS chain of command. • Extend Enhanced Retirement and COPRA coverage to additional CBP occupations. • Improve training quality and extend training opportunities to additional CBP occupations.

8. Pay Parity • FY 2010 budget recommends a 2% pay raise for federal employees and a 2.9% pay raise for military • NTEU supports pay parity between federal civilian employees and the military • The Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act (FEPCA) has never been fully implemented which has left a 23% pay disparity between federal employees and their private sector counterparts

9. Labor Management Partnerships • On October 1, 1993, President Clinton issued an executive order establishing labor-management partnerships in the federal government. • That executive order was rescinded by President Bush soon after he assumed office. • NTEU supports a Presidential executive order, and legislation to establish a National Partnership Council to advise the President and to create local partnership councils in the field.

10. Health Care Issues • Requiring OPM to apply for Medicare subsidy • Protecting FEHBP risk pool • Direct negotiating for drug prices • Raising the age cap for dependents • Providing paid parental leave (H.R. 626 and S. 354)

11. Retiree Issues • Social Security Offsets (H.R. 235 and S. 484) • Retiree Premium Conversion (H.R. 1203 and S. 491) • FERS Sick Leave Credit (H.R. 1256 reflects language in both H.R. 958 and H.R. 1263)

12. GRASSROOTS ACTIVITY

13. Why Does Grassroots Matter? • Members of Congress make decisions everyday which affect your pay, benefits and work life. • Involvement in NTEU’s legislative and political grassroots program allows you to have an impact on policy issues that affect you, your family, and hundreds of thousands of other federal employees.

14. Meeting – Step-By-Step Nothing beats a face-to-face meeting with your member of Congress. Before your meeting: • Review your individual Senator’s or Representative’s voting record. • Appoint a spokesperson from your group for each issue you plan to discuss with your member of Congress. • Look up the number of federal employees and retirees that your member of Congress represents.

15. Meeting – Step-By-Step During your meeting: • If your member has consistently supported NTEU, please begin by thanking them. • The spokesperson for each issue should explain how that issue affects you and your coworkers. Be sure to stick to the facts. • Leave copies of the fact sheets outlining NTEU’s positions in the issues with the member’s office.

16. Meeting – Step-By-Step After your meeting: • It’s a good idea to make notes after the meeting. Your member may be less candid if you are writing down everything that is said. • It is always a good idea to write a brief note to your member of Congress following the meeting thanking them for their time. • Report to the membership the results of the meeting.

17. Grassroots Scenario • HR 626 is a bill that would provide federal workers with four weeks of full pay to use while they are on leave for the birth or adoption of a child. The bill also allows federal workers to use up to eight weeks of accrued paid sick time to care for their new child. In addition, it gives the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) authority to increase the amount of paid parental leave from four to eight weeks once further studies are conducted. • Your member of Congress, Congresswoman Smith, is not a co-sponsor on this bill.  Set up a meeting with Congresswoman Smith when she is back in the district during Congressional recess. 

18. Grassroots Exercise • Role 1: Spokesperson for group of NTEU members meeting with Congresswoman Smith • Role 2: Congresswoman Smith • Task: Convince Congresswoman Smith to sign onto HR 626 as a co-sponsor and support the bill when it comes to the House floor for a vote.

19. Building a Legislative Committee • Designating a Legislative Coordinator is the first step. • Secondly, having an additional person serving as a “right hand” can assist with further recruitment, and organizing of activities.  • The primary role of the committee is to ensure that legislative information is distributed via home email addresses or on-site information areas; the building of congressional relationships are in progress year round, and that there is a focus on TEPAC involvement and contribution.

20. Political Action • NTEU’s political action program has grown exponentially over the past five election cycles. More races are being targeted and more NTEU chapters are getting involved. With each election cycle, more NTEU members are volunteering their time to implement NTEU’s election plan. TEPAC raises record amounts of money every election year. • Involvement in NTEU’s political action program has increased over the years, but it is not where we need it to be to reach our potential. We need more NTEU members involved in both political grassroots and TEPAC.

21. Election 2008 • In addition to NTEU election activities across the country, NTEU targeted 9 states for intensive election activities. These states were chosen because they were considered toss-ups in the Presidential election and many had toss-up Senate races. And they have a large concentration of NTEU members. • In these states, NTEU chapters sent out endorsement letters to their members, called other NTEU members before the election, and volunteered their time on these campaigns. • Several hundred NTEU volunteers made thousands of phone calls on behalf of pro-federal employee candidates. • NTEU’s targeted efforts helped 36 new pro-federal employee candidates win their elections, including President BarackObama.

22. Are You Ready For 2010? Voter Registration • You can ask everyone who comes into the union office if they are registered to vote and have registration forms on hand for those that aren’t. • You can provide registration information to all new NTEU members when they join the union. • We also want to encourage all chapters to hold two onsite voter registration drives in 2009.

23. Are You Ready For 2010? Recruiting Volunteers • Chapters can only become fully engaged in NTEU’s election plan when they have enough volunteers to implement the plan. • Volunteers are used to make member-to-member calls, send out endorsement mailings and participate in campaign events. • For chapters that aren’t in targeted states or districts, volunteers can help by calling other NTEU members that are in targeted areas.

24. TEPAC

25. TEPAC in 2008 • A key way that chapters in non-competitive states made a difference in 2008 was through TEPAC. • TEPAC contributions are the most critical in an election where NTEU does not have a lot of members; our contributions allow us to make an impact on a race where we cannot provide volunteers and Get-Out-the-Vote (GOTV) efforts. •  If your chapter is in a location that does not often have a targeted race, raise TEPAC funds from your members to make an impact.

26. Who Does TEPAC Support? • TEPAC only supports candidates who support federal employees – regardless of political party • If the candidate is an incumbent, several things are considered: • Voting record on NTEU issues • Relevant leadership or committee assignment • Relationship with local NTEU chapters • NTEU member recommendations • If the candidate is a challenger, these items are considered: • Personal interview • Responses to questionnaire on federal employee and retiree issues • Attempts to establish relationship with local NTEU chapters • NTEU member recommendations • Record from state or local office

27. WHAT WE ARE UP AGAINST: EXAMPLE Private contractors that are lobbying Congress for the same federal dollars to create federal pay scales and new technology in CBP have significantly increased their political contributions over the past several election cycles.

28. WHERE WE COULD BE We have the potential to level the playing field, but only if all NTEU members participate. If every member of NTEU gave just $1.50 per pay period, we would have raised almost $6 million in the 2008 election cycle.

29. How Can You Help? • Ask other NTEU members to give to TEPAC - a personal ask is the most effective way to bring new people into TEPAC. • Hold off-site voter registration drives and voter education events and set up a TEPAC table. • Work with your chapter president to send a local TEPAC solicitation mailing. While NTEU often sends out a national solicitation mailing that is a major source of fundraising for TEPAC, local chapter mailings can be even more effective. • Send information and a solicitation through home email.