You’ve all seen the Deputy Administrator’s announcement that AFGE, ESC, NAGE and NAIL agreed to a return to the office date of April 25. With the next email from Kimberly Patrick, the Agency officially announced that April 25 is also the return to the office date for NTEU bargaining unit employees. The distinction-without-a-difference is that this date has been imposed on NTEU involuntarily.
There is not yet any reentry MOU for NTEU bargaining units. Our contract provisions for telework (including full-time telework) are still in effect, and we are still negotiating how to adjust them as “maximum telework” comes to an end. But the Agency played a lot of games about negotiating the health and safety policies that are so critical for bringing people back to their offices, and NTEU wasn’t willing to agree to any specific reentry date without adequate commitment from the agency to take appropriate measures to protect employees on their return.
We only began formal bargaining with the Agency over COVID-related health and safety policies this week, although they have been hearing us express your concerns through the PDI process throughout the pandemic, before the Agency unilaterally cut off that process. We are disappointed that many of the Agency’s proposed policies and many of their objections to our proposals do not reflect an understanding of your legitimate concerns about maintaining safety and protecting employee health, particularly that of the most vulnerable, during the transition back into the office. We are also disappointed that the Agency did not directly inform us during our bargaining session yesterday that they would be unilaterally imposing this return to office date on NTEU bargaining unit employees today.
We are still in discussions with management about health and safety, and our goal is to help employees protect themselves and their families from the deadly coronavirus. The Future of Work has preceded the End of the Pandemic, and we have to move forward under the Agency’s decision. We are still hopeful that management will participate in the EPA Labor COVID-19 Coalition pursuant to the charter that OMS signed on behalf of EPA so that employees will have a voice in the Agency’s ongoing response to COVID in the future.
We encourage you to request any desired changes to your telework or schedule arrangements, or remote work, under our existing CBA as soon as possible. If you have medical concerns about returning to the office because of COVID, consider requesting a reasonable accommodation. Supervisors have very broad discretion, but if your supervisor is unwilling to approve arrangements that you believe are necessary to protect your health or your family, we may be able to help.