Federal Workers Alliance Delegation of Local Union Leaders Meets with Key Administration Policy Staff

This week, a Federal Workers Alliance (FWA) delegation of federal sector local union leaders, including leaders from IFPTE Local 3, met with Biden-Harris Administration policy staff who focus on federal workforce and labor issues, including those responsible for developing and following up on the recommendations in the White House’s Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment report.

Local 3 President Paul Dobias, Local 3 Executive VP Dawn Dillette, and Local 3 Steward/Trustee Cathryn Barnett represented IFPTE at the policy discussion. The White House hosted FWA local leaders from across the U.S. to better understand how Administration policy is being implemented at agencies and local components, and the challenges federal workers face. 

Local 3 leaders made the most of the opportunity to share how arbitrary and unsupported decisions on telework that aren’t based on employee performance, organizational productivity, or agency mission is rolling back employees’ telework levels. Union leaders also discussed the need for policies and federal benefits that support the retention of mid- and late-career employees as well as new hires. Others shared the Biden-Harris Administration’s policies to reverse the harmful policies of the previous administration and the need to continue addressing the unresolved attacks on federal workers’ union rights. 

While Administration officials and federal labor leaders acknowledged that there is more to be done, White House policy and labor engagement staff reiterated that federal employees “have a strong partner in this administration.”