Local 86 Brings Army Corps Issues to California’s Congressional Delegation
During this week’s IFPTE Legislative Conference, Local 86 President Debra O’Leary brought key issues to the attention of members of California’s Congressional delegation. As the head of IFPTE’s Army Corps unit in the Bay Area, O’Leary represents workers who serve in an array of functions that protect California’s environment and foster the safe, responsible use of its waterways for the benefit of economies and working families throughout the state.
During the conference, O’Leary met with representatives from the offices of House members Nancy Pelosi, Jared Huffman, Barbara Lee and Kevin Mullin. In addition, she met with the offices of both Senators from California, Alex Padilla and Laphnoza Butler. She used her time with these influential staffers to raise issues important to her members, as well as IFPTE Army Corps members throughout the country, including the wind power project in Humboldt Bay and the need to establish telecommuting policies that take into account work-life balance, productivity and worker safety.
“Like many cities, San Francisco is still emerging from the pandemic and dealing with the challenges that have arisen since our nation locked down due to the pandemic in 2020,” O’Leary said. “As we union leaders talk to our management counterparts about returning to the office, we must ensure that they consider fact-based assessments of the productivity of our members and the need to address workers’ concerns about working in downtowns that are still recovering.”
IFPTE Secretary-Treasurer Gay Henson accompanied O’Leary during her Senate visits and commended the first-hand perspective that she brought to Capitol Hill. “Local leaders like Sister O’Leary represent the front line in the union’s effort to give federal workers the voice they deserve, especially during this critical time for our civil service,” Henson said. “She brought her experience and knowledge to the table, sharing personal accounts about the work that she and her fellow Army Corps workers do in the areas of terror prevention and protecting critical infrastructure.”
Two IFPTE national security initiatives that O’Leary highlighted were the need to keep Army Corps locks and dams under the control of trained on-sight operators and the designation of Army Corps Park Rangers as “inherently governmental.“ Both of these IFPTE positions aim to counter proposals based on false economies that would severely erode the safety and security of our nation’s waterways, which are a vital part of our nation’s defense systems and economy.
