All,
Hey everyone, Happy Super Bowl Sunday. I hope you are all having a solid week. Just a few quick things for you.
Shutdown
Here are a few highlights from the shutdown telcon this week. These were posted in slack as the telcon was happening. Don’t forget to join slack for the most up to date info.
The issue of not getting an LES and thus not knowing if they paid us right has been brought up and we are working on a tool to determine if we were paid right.
Sharing the $0 pay stubs and hand written letters were vital to us being successful with reopening the government. It really dialed up the pressure.
Social Media followings are up between 10%-37% across different platforms from the shutdown. Our message is really getting out there now which is great. This will help us fight the next shutdown.
Q1 NCEPT may not happen on schedule but it is still possible for us to get 4 NCEPTS done this year.
Shutdown Leave
So now that we know the OPM guidance made all leave taken during the shutdown essentially free or not charged, I know that many of you want to take leave next time there is a shutdown. I totally understand this and I get it. Just make sure you are requesting leave in accordance with the CBA. More specifically if you had all of your leave bid up for the year and you requested leave the week of the next potentially shutdown, you are now overbid. You will need to go in and cancel leave to accommodate for the new requested leave. Bidding more leave than you have (even if we might shutdown) takes more leave opportunities away from your coworkers. I have gone through and done a quick once over of the dates surrounding the shutdown and I know who is overbid. You know who you are. Management does not yet know about any of this and I would really rather they never be involved. So if you are overbid, please correct that as soon as possible.
Earlier Shift Requests
I have spoken to Lee and the supes and I am encouraging them to be checking the remarks of each shift change request as they address it. So if you have a third swing and your RTS that Angie puts in for you is to an 8, you can go in to the remarks and add a note saying that you will accept any earlier shift. Often times the 14 to an 8 request is denied because they can’t do an 8 but the never look to see if they can do any earlier. The schedule is required to be posted by Saturday at midnight every other week. So the next one will be 2/17 by midnight. Just set a reminder in your phone or wherever to check it and add in those remarks if they apply to you. Hopefully this will allow us to get a few folks returned to something resembling a day shift when people are on leave and the coverage is needed. I would recommend putting a note in all of your swing to day requests saying that you want the earliest possible shift just to cover all of your bases.
Pay
As I am sure you all know, our shutdown pay is still pretty messed up. I know that every person at every level I have spoken to about this is just as pissed off as we all are and they are working to correct it. This has not been a collaborative process and that will be addressed at some point as well. Here is the most recent info that the agency shared about when we can expect the remainder of our money we are owed:
Pay period 03 will include pay for January 20 to February 2, 2019, and any retroactive pay for regular hours for pay periods 01 and 02. Overtime and premium pay for pay periods 01 and 02 will be paid on February 26, 2019, pay period 04 payday.
Thats pretty much it. Just one more little thing. The snack fund has been coming up a little short. So if you were waiting until after the shutdown to settle your accounts in the snack fund, go ahead and do that when you can. If the shutdown is preventing you from paying what you owe, just let me know, I got you.
Don’t hesitate to hit me up with any questions.
In Solidarity,
Drew