FEDERAL LABOR-MANAGEMENT TEAMS TO BE HONORED

Washington, D.C. -- Seven outstanding partnerships crafted from President Bill Clinton=s determination to Acreate a government that works better and costs less@ will be featured during a White House awards ceremony on Wednesday, September 11.

The honorees (see attachments for specific accomplishments), who will receive their awards at the Administration=s National Partnership Council ceremony, are part of labor-management teams at federal agencies who worked together to improve the delivery of customer service. Over the past year, they have transformed the way services are delivered by streamlining programs, empowering front line employees and cutting costs.

AThis year=s winners exemplify what can be accomplished when unions and management work together to make government work more effectively for the people,@ said Vice President Al Gore, who heads the National Performance Review, a commission to make government work better and cost less. AThey serve as the model for change.@

The National Partnership Awards ceremony is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. on:

Wednesday, September 11
Old Executive Office Building
Washington, D.C.

Members of the media wishing to attend should contact OPM=s Mary Ann Maloney at 202-606-1800 (fax: 202-606-2264) and provide name, news organization, date of birth and social security number. This information is necessary in advance to speed entry into the Old Executive Office Building at the time of the event.

A live satellite broadcast can be downlinked using the following coordinates:

C-Band: Telstar 401, Position 97 Degrees West, Transponder 17 Vertical, Downlink Frequency 4040 MHZ. Vertical, Audio 6.2/6.8

or

KU-Band: SBS-6, Orbital Slot 74 Degrees West, Transponder 11 Horizontal, Downlink Frequency 11970 MHZ. Horizontal, Audio 6.2/6.8

The honorees include:

• U.S. Mint/American Federation of Government Employees

• U.S. Department of Education/National Council of Department of Education Locals and the American Federation of Government Employees (AFL-CIO)

• Picatinny Arsenal and Federal Uniformed Firefighters/International Association of Firefighters o Internal Revenue Service/National Treasury Employees Union

• Defense Distribution Depot/AFL-CIO

The honorees will receive Vice President Al Gore=s AEagle Statue.@ In addition to the award winners, the Rock Island Arsenal/Federal Firefighters Association, International Brotherhood of Police Officers, International Association of Tool Crafters, and the American Federation of Government Employees; and Social Security Administration/AFGE will receive an honorable mention for valuable contributions to reinventing government.

Jim King, OPM Director and Chairman of the National Partnership Council said, AThe savings the American people are seeing today could not have been made without the dedicated work of many who take pride in being public service employees. Through labor-management partnerships, we are reaching new heights.@

AWARD WINNERS:

U.S. Department of Treasury

U.S. Mint, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania/American Federation of Government Employees (AFL-CIO), Local 1023, and the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge F1-PA/USA

In two years, the Philadelphia Mint partnership has produced $1 million in cost savings through manufacturing enhancements, cut operating expenses by more than $100,000 yearly through employee suggestions, reduced the number of formal grievances filed by 65 percent, and decreased workers compensation expenses. The most dramatic improvement involved extending the longevity of dies used to produce pennies. In fiscal 1994, dies needed replacement after producing about 700,000 pennies. Since partnership, teams have experimented with ways to increase die longevity. The results of their efforts is an increase in die longevity from 700,000 to more than 1.2 million impressions, resulting in the use of 20,000 fewer dies yearly and a saving of nearly $1 million per year. The spirit of partnership has also created improvements in customer service. At the beginning of the Partnership Accord, the internal customer service standard called for 100 percent of orders to be shipped within three days of receiving labels. With partnership in place, the customer service team now ships 95 percent of coin orders within two days. Recently the Mint was able to ship within one day 100 percent of orders for 1996 Atlanta Centennial Olympics commemorative coins. This was one of the biggest programs in Mint history.

U.S. Department of Education

U.S. Department of Education/National Council of Department of Education Locals, Council 252, and the American Federation of Government Employees (AFL-CIO)

The Department of Education partnership has transformed an adversarial labor-management relationship into one that works collaboratively, and where the agency and union are committed to the Department becoming a high-performance, customer-focused organization. The Department=s partnership has produced many successes: for example, a partnership team has simplified the grants process, reducing the number of steps from 487 to 221.The Department=s Collections Service has reduced busy signals on its toll-free lines from more than 400,000 in January 1994 to where 25 unanswered calls are now considered a Abad day.@ The Service also has increased overdue student loan collections from $174 million to $862 million in the period FY 93 to FY 96, with dollars collected by each employee increasing from $734,000 to $3.64 million.

U.S. Army

Directorate of Public Safety and Environmental Affairs, U.S. Army Armaments Research, Development and Engineering Center, Picatinny Arsenal and Federal Uniformed Firefighters (FUF), F-169/International Association of Firefighters (AFL-CIO)

The fire department-FUF partnership at the Picatinny Arsenal has resulted in many instances of cost savings or avoidance. By adopting the union=s recommendation to use current fire fighters, who are certified instructors, rather than outside contractors, to conduct certain types of training necessary for state certification, costs were cut dramatically. Other recommendations such as purchasing machines for on site cleaning rather than sending firefighting gear to be cleaned outside the facility have led to significant cost savings. In the area of customer service, the fire department has entered into a new mutual aid agreement with community fire departments which has resulted in a hazardous material clean-up commitment and an equipment replacement agreement for off-base emergencies.

U.S. Department of Treasury

Internal Revenue Service, North Texas District/National Treasury Employees Union, Chapter 46

Labor-management relations in the North Texas District (NTD) of the Internal Revenue Service reached an all-time low in 1993 when, with a bargaining unit of 1,893 employees, 132 grievances and 20 unfair labor practices (ULPs) were filed. The cost of these actions was 14,376 staff hours and $308,187, as well as reduced productivity, employee morale, and job satisfaction. Since 1994, when NTD and NTEU Chapter 46 signed a Total Quality Partnership agreement which encouraged greater participation by NTEU in human resources and operational planning, there has been a reduction to 123 grievances and no unfair labor practices filed. This saved the District 3,363 staff hours and $57,000. In addition, the partnership has improved work processes and increased productivity by changing the way IRS agents research, screen, process and report revenue. The effort has eliminated paper, cut processing time and resulted in significant cost savings.

Department of Defense

Defense Logistics Agency, Defense Distribution Depot, Warner Robins Air Force Base, Georgia/American Federation of Government Employees (AFL-CIO), Local 987

Management and the union, working together at the Defense Distribution Depot, have redesigned the process of receiving, stowing, selecting, packaging and shipping customer orders. Before this reinvention effort, it took 967 people and a budget exceeding $46 million to fill customer orders in six days (a two-day average for high-priority requests and a six-day average for routine orders). With only 721 people and a budget cut to $40 million, the DDWG can now ship all customer orders in less than one day. In addition, the depot has decentralized the receiving, packing and shipping functions. The Transportation and Shipping Division developed new selection criteria for small parcel carriers in order to improve the quality, speed and reliability of service to customers. This initiative, recognized as a benchmark for other depots, has saved $80,000.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

U.S. Army

Rock Island Arsenal (Federal Firefighters Association, Local 5; International Brotherhood of Police Officers, Local 513; International Association of Tool Crafters, Local 1; American Federation of Government Employees, Locals 2134 and 2119)

The Arsenal is a participant in the Army=s Contractor Performance Certification Program (CP2), which recognizes suppliers with the very best business practices and product quality achievements. Recipients of the CP2 pennant are considered to require less oversight from contract management offices, and may be allowed to perform certain functions in-house that previously were performed by the customer. The Arsenal first achieved CP2 certification of its manufacturing area in August 1993. Since then, additional requirements have been added to the CP2 recertification making it more difficult to achieve. Still, as a result of the joint efforts of labor and management, and the participation of every employee in the Arsenal=s manufacturing center, recertification was achieved in February 1996. In addition to the CP2, union council members are included in the marketing and negotiating terms that solicit new workloads for the Arsenal.

Partnership teams already have been successful in obtaining workload increases. The Arsenal=s partnership efforts have reduced grievances and unfair labor practices to 35 grievances and 5 unfair labor practices in FY 95 from 112 grievance and 14 unfair labor practices in FY 93.

Social Security Administration

Social Security Administration, Region III and American Federation of Government Employees, Locals 1923, 3302, and 2006

Region III=s Partnership Council has had a successful transformation of its union-management culture which now involves more union input in such processes as joint design and development of new office space. Using this new process, the Region has not had a single delay in relocating any office as a result of unresolved union and management space negotiations, resulting in an estimated savings of $25,000 in negotiation costs over the last year. The Region has safer and better designed offices which reflect the ideas and input from the staff working in those offices. In addition the Regional Partnership Council has adopted the interest-based bargaining techniques that has led to joint union-management screening and interviewing of job candidates which has led to less staff turnover; replacement of the five-tier appraisal system with a pass/fail system; and the move towards joint problem-solving rather than litigation. These efforts have resulted in the reduction of arbitration hearings and unfair labor practice charges. In addition the group has cut costs and increased customer service.

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