IFPTE Applauds Biden-Harris Administration FLRA Nominations, Urges Swift Senate Confirmations
WASHINGTON, DC – The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) commends the Biden-Harris Administration for nominating Anne Wagner to serve as a Member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) and for renominating Suzanne Summerlin to serve as FLRA General Counsel. Both nominees are highly qualified and have IFPTE’s full support. Ms. Wagner is currently Associate Special Counsel of the Office Special Counsel and Ms. Summerlin is currently the Deputy General Counsel and Deputy Executive Director for the Federal Education Association. IFPTE executive officers provided the following comments.
IFPTE President Matthew Biggs:
“IFPTE applauds President Biden for putting forward Anne Wagner, a highly qualified and highly accomplished nominee, to continue her career in public service as a Member of the FLRA. With a career that includes serving as Vice-Chair of the Merit Systems Protection Board, as General Counsel of the GAO’s Personnel Appeals, and a remarkable two decades of working on behalf of union-represented federal workers, she has a deep respect for the federal civil service and a strong understanding of the federal labor-management relations statute. We urge the Senate to act swiftly to confirm Ms. Wagner so that the FLRA can function with a full complement of Authority members and support stable and harmonious federal labor-management relations.
We also wish to reiterate our full and enthusiastic support for Suzanne Summerlin, whose nomination for FLRA General Counsel was resent to the Senate by the Biden-Harris Administration. We know Ms. Summerlin to be highly qualified to serve as the FLRA General Counsel and understand the responsibilities and function. She is not only a well-respected expert on federal personnel policy, but she understands well the importance the General Counsel’s Office plays in resolving disputes and facilitating a productive environment for labor-management relations in the federal government. These nominees show once more the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to making the federal government a model employer.”
IFPTE Secretary-Treasurer Gay Henson:
“IFPTE wholeheartedly supports Anne Wagner’s nomination for FLRA Member and Suzanne Summerlin’s nomination for FLRA General Counsel. Ms. Wagner has a distinguished career as a civil servant, has accumulated a deep expertise in federal personnel policy, and has a tremendous amount of experience that will be invaluable to the FLRA, to our civil service, and our nation. Ms. Summerlin has demonstrated that she is a highly qualified and well-respected expert on federal personnel policy and has distinguished herself through her work on behalf of federal workers.
Right now, the absence of a functional FLRA board and a Senate-confirmed General Counsel creates immense challenges for federal employees who have disputes and concerns that need to be resolved before the board, including the issues that have arisen from poorly reasoned FLRA decisions made in recent years that sought to radically reinterpret the Statute and strip union rights from federal workers. We thank President Biden and Vice President Harris for supporting these nominees and we look forward to supporting these nominees as we urge the Senate to confirm them as soon as possible.”
The FLRA administers the federal labor-relations law impacting nearly 2.1 million U.S. federal employees worldwide, a million of whom are represented by 2,200 collective bargaining units.
Across the United States and Canada, IFPTE represents 90,000 highly skilled workers in the federal, public, and private sectors. IFPTE is an affiliate of the AFL-CIO and the CLC. More information can be found at www.IFPTE.org.
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