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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