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The Ask
If you are a bargaining unit employee (BUE) working a fully remote work schedule, whether you're a member or non-member, this local is asking you and others like you to consider fully completing, pen and ink signing and returning to this local this message's included Statement of Interest form (see link below) as immediately as possible but no later than Friday, May 31st.
Given the immediate need to collect this information, the preferred method of response is for you to use your smartphone to take a picture of your completed form, which you would email to questions4@afge3631.org
The local must minimally receive a 30% response from this population to provide for a Federal Labor Relation Authority (FLRA) managed election on this matter, which this local desires. A favorable response from an FLRA election will allow for an update to the existing certifications to ensure remote workers remain with the bargaining unit, as was previously the case.
Why?
EPA bargaining unit employees such as yourself who have been exercising their union-negotiated right to remote work now have a duty station designation that falls outside of the scope of the FLRA's certification language that authorizes the union to provide for their representation. These certifications presently contain language defining who the union can represent as a factor of physical work location, such as "the Headquarter Office," a descriptor that no longer captures the current circumstance of remote workers working from various approved remote work locations.
To date, the agency has not used this situation to remove those working approved remote work schedules from the bargaining unit; however, recent communications from agency officials have made it clear that this accommodation WILL change upon a change in the federal administration.
A loss in bargaining unit status for this population, which includes you, would mean a loss in the union's ability to bargain and provide you representation. This includes your inability to work under ALL union-negotiated agreements, including the remote work, telework, and work schedules agreements. You would lose all workplace protections and rights that fall within the union's purview for your representation.
Do you still have questions?
Please feel free to contact your local by directing your questions to questions4@afge3631.org