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GAO Workers Say the Union is ‘All of Us Together’ |
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Kim Siegal, a senior analyst at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), has several reasons for wanting to form a union with the Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE).
“For me, it’s a personal value and belief in some equanimity between workers and management,” says Siegal.
In an eight-minute video, “The Union: All of Us Together,” posted on YouTube, Siegal and several other GAO analysts talk about why they believe joining together in a union will make the GAO a better place to work and improve their jobs.
This Wednesday, nearly 2,000 GAO analysts will finish voting on whether to join IFPTE. Mail balloting is under way, and the results are expected be known later that day.
The video is the latest in a mobilization that the workers tagged “Band Together.”
After sweeping changes in personnel policy were imposed by agency management two years ago, the analysts began their organizing drive. In May, they turned in authorization cards signed by the majority of GAO analysts.
But rather than quickly agreeing on an election date, the agency brought in an outside legal firm to help fight the organizing effort. GAO also challenged the union eligibility of several hundreds workers, claiming they were supervisors—and thus not eligible to join the union under current labor law. In July the GAO—an independent federal agency—and IFPTE reached an election agreement that included the challenged employees and other GAO employers as well.
The video follows an internal video message from GAO Comptroller David Walker that was shown to workers earlier this month. In the workers’ video, analyst Dan Meyer says:
The phrase “Band Together” is important in this effort because when we have a union, all members are equal….All analysts will have an opportunity to make an impact, from those who have recently joined GAO to those who have been here many years. Together we can use the ideas from all the people who are part of the union to make GAO a better place to work.
Senior analyst Jacqueline Harpp says in the video that fairness is a central issue in the drive to win a union voice.
When you devote 30 years of your life to an organization, you certainly care about the organization. And you care that people are treated fairly.
Click here to see “The Union: All of Us Together.”
1 Comment
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The video “The Union: All of Us Together” is impressive in how the GAO members have expressed their reasons for wanting to become a Union. I am even more impressed with the insight and articulation of the employees. Their reasons for unionizing are more than valid, and clearly show the importance of creating an even more professional organization, which becoming a Union will facilitate. All companies should have this possibility.