July 15, 2010

OCC BARGAINING UNIT EMPLOYEES

A LONG AND WINDING ROAD..........

Negotiability for Pay and Benefits

Having operated under basically Civil War legislation, it appears we may be seeing transparency at the end of the tunnel once President Obama signs The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.  There is considerable work yet to be done just to implement this legislation and the jury is still out as to the full impact it will have on our agency.  Still, when it comes to negotiating salary and benefits, the employees finally have a seat at the table. 

How it happened? 

For almost eight years, NTEU has been pursuing the right to negotiate pay and benefits at the OCC.   The new financial regulatory reform now makes this goal a reality.   

Many employees who have not been with the OCC through this period may not fully appreciate the uphill battle we waged.  The NTEU at the OCC was formally recognized on November 14, 2002.   The OCC was in the midst of consolidating six district offices into four.  As a result of that consolidation, we filed a notice of intent to bargain for a salary adjustment for relocating employees.   OCC management countered, stating that the union lacked the authority to bargain over pay and benefits, due to a statute enacted during the Lincoln era presidency.

On June 24, 2003, we submitted a petition for review to the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA), asking them for a ruling.  On April 29, 2004, in a split two-to-one decision, the FLRA ruled in favor of the OCC.  On May 17, 2004, a group of disgruntled OCC employees filed a petition to decertify the NTEU as the OCC’s union representative.   At a subsequent election on December 13, 2004, the NTEU was re-certified by an even larger margin of victory than in the original election.  Clearly, the majority of employees already recognized the value added by a union presence. 

Despite the distraction of a recertification and election, NTEU officers continued their steady pursuit of pay negotiability.  During this period, NTEU sought to appeal the initial FLRA ruling.   Unfortunately, on January 23, 2006, an appeals court also ruled in the OCC favor.   As NTEU was left with no legal remedy, we almost immediately set out on a campaign to have the legislation rewritten.

NTEU began by gathering information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).  Based upon the limited information we received, we became concerned about the potential for unintentional discrimination.  We began to communicate our concerns to the established Labor-Management Relations Committee (LMRC).  At those meetings, we were subsequently surprised to learn that the OCC had never conducted an internal or external analysis of its pay system to ensure that even unintentional discrimination had not occurred.   We were especially surprised by this fact, as the FDIC and SEC merit pay systems had recently been determined to be discriminatory, and the two agencies were ordered to revise their systems.  When it became apparent that these discussions were accomplishing little, NTEU took the next progressive step.

We found a sympathetic ear in Congressman Barney Frank.  We began regularly communicating with his office.  We expressed concern about the OCC’s merit pay system which is highly subjective, non-transparent, and not supported by a majority of OCC employees.   We also expressed concern that the OCC had not performed an analysis to determine whether the system “unintentionally” discriminated against protected classes, but especially minorities and older employees.  

On June 5, 2008 Congressman Barney Frank wrote Comptroller Dugan expressing his concern about the OCC’s pay system.  On July 31, 2008, Comptroller Dugan responded to the inquiry, stating that the OCC had undertaken a study of its compensation program.

In early March 2009, numerous OCC employees attended the NTEU Legislative Conference in Washington DC.  At that conference we, along with union members from the FDIC, SEC and NCUA, were able to meet with representatives from the Senate Banking Committee and put forth our ideas and concerns relative to the proposed financial reform legislation.  We provided them with a “white paper” in which we articulated our ideas.  Among those ideas was a “systemic risk council” and “pay negotiability for OCC employees.”  During that conference, we also met individually with various members of the Senate Banking Committee and House Financial Services Committee (HFSC), including Barney Frank who had now become the HFSC chairman.

That same week in March 2009, NTEU was informed at a LMRC meeting that a preliminary report of the compensation program study had finally been issued.  We were disappointed to learn that the review covered only the most recent fiscal year.  We made repeated requests for the report to be released to us, but without success.  Finally, after being repeatedly rebuffed, NTEU made a formal FOIA request for the information on August 21, 2009.   Despite a federally-mandated 20 business day turnaround, OCC “released” portions of the study on October 29, 2009.  However, management redacted virtually all meaningful information that we could use for analytical purposes.

On December 2, 2009, NTEU filed an appeal to the Comptroller of the Currency for release of the study.   Again after considerable delay, the OCC management denied the request on March 29, 2010.    Subsequently, in June 2010 NTEU filed a suit against the agency in Federal Court claiming the unlawful withholding of information under the Freedom of Information Act.  

In March 2010, OCC employees again attended the NTEU legislative conference in Washington, DC.  This time with backing from SEC, FDIC and NCUA union leaders, we provided every member on the Senate Banking Committee and House Financial Services Committee with a copy of our regulatory reform proposal regarding pay negotiability at the OCC.   Our thrust:  the other three FIRREA agencies already had pay negotiability, so why should OCC be shackled by Civil War era legislation.  Fortunately, our message was clearly heard. 

For the NTEU members who have been with this process since the beginning, the wheels of justice and the legislative process really do turn slowly.  However, we have at last achieved our goal.  It is a great day and a great victory for all OCC bargaining unit employees.

What is Next?

Although it is too early to know what steps may be taken to rationalize the OCC pay system, we do know broadly that some events and attitudes will shape the future.  One fact now is that the next Comptroller, to be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate, will no longer have authority to take unilateral action on the pay and benefits of the bargaining unit, which of course includes our NTEU members.  We hope and trust the next Comptroller recognizes that negotiated input on the pay system will produce better results for the OCC, rather than unilateralism.

We recognize that good-faith bargaining on pay and benefits likely will be part and parcel of the overall relationship between NTEU and OCC as it evolves, under a new Comptroller and executive managers who may stay on or retire.  On non-pay matters, pre-decisional involvement has barely begun to germinate however.  It is a concept that the current administration expects the next Comptroller to fully embrace.  Also, a major transition is about to occur as OTS employees are integrated into the OCC.  We will see whether the new Comptroller and Executive Committee will aim at fostering a meaningful partnership with NTEU, to work collaboratively on the OTS transition and on a myriad of matters, now including pay and benefits.

OCC bargaining unit employees should not anticipate significant increases in pay and benefits.  While there are obvious areas that can and should be improved upon, most OCC employees will generally concur that our pay and benefits are good.  Therefore, we will strive to maintain what we currently have, while working toward the possibility of improvement.   Our focus will be upon engagement and equitable treatment of employees.   That includes how merit raises and pay increases are determined.  The transparency must be significantly improved.   When an employee asks their supervisor what they need to do in order to become “4-rated”; it will no longer be acceptable for the manager to respond “Well, you just need to keep doing what you have been doing and work a little harder at it.”

Changes will not occur overnight and will need to be negotiated through the bargaining process.  NTEU leaders will conduct these negotiations on behalf of all bargaining unit employees.  NTEU members will have the opportunity to approve or disapprove of any compensation and benefits contracts that are negotiated with the OCC.  However, all bargaining unit employees will be bound by those contracts. 

Throughout this process, our goal is to maintain our core values:  A seat at the table, professionalism and fair and equitable treatment of employees.  These are the values that OCC stakeholders have come to expect and to rely upon.   

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