AFGE official charges collusion
by Carl Biers
Activists from a number of federal sector unions report a similar,
troubling scenario: union representatives--elected and appointed--avoid confronting
management over contract violations; in exchange, management permits them unregulated and
uncontested "official time." The system works well for both parties. Management
gets labor peace and free reign over the workplace, cooperative union officials get paid
by the government to do pretty much whatever they want, and good aggressive union
representatives get a hard time. The victims, of course, are the workers whom the union is
supposed to represent.
The problem, which exists in one form or another throughout the labor movement, is
compounded in the federal sector where members are not required to join the union or pay
dues. Few non-postal locals boast a membership above a third of those eligible.
Occasionally, however, a reform-minded activist, or just a member in need of decent
representation, runs up against this system.
Joe Palazzolo, a regional vice president of American Federation of Government Employees
Council 236 of the |
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