Major Gen. Jim Butterworth, Georgia’s Adjutant General, signed a new labor contract with the organization that represents the more than 1,200 full-time federal technicians across the state who work for the Georgia Department of Defense (Ga. DoD). By doing so, Butterworth officially ended nearly 18-months of negotiation between the Ga. DoD and the Orange Park, Florida-based Association of Civilian Technicians (ACT) that first got underway in the fall of 2011.

“Both sides have worked hard to bring this effort to fruition in such a way that it benefits our technicians and the DoD,” Butterworth told representatives of the technicians and management. “We are committed to having a solid relationship with labor, and always keeping the lines of communication open.”

Reinecke, chief negotiator for the ACT-Southeast, added that with any contract negotiation the process is a long one, that there were times there were differences that had to be worked out, but in the end the two sides came together, settled those differences and pushed forward on coming up with a document that – in the end – works for both sides.

“While we [labor and management] may not agree on everything, we know we can sit down, talk things out and come up with an agreement for the betterment of everyone involved,” Reinecke said.

According to Georgia Air National Guard Col. Rainer Gomez, commander of Savannah’s 165th Airlift Wing and chief negotiator for management, the contract that covers technicians working for Georgia DoD comes up for re-negotiation every four years. Sometime in 2015, both sides will sit down and go over items in the contract to determine what has worked and what may need to be given a second look.

Modifications to the old contract came about because of changes in federal law governing federal technicians – for example, how jobs are advertised – that have occurred over the past couple of years.

“Repeating something General Butterworth said earlier, what we’ve accomplished here today provides a path to making our organization better than it already is,” Gomez said. “It serves as a more equitable way of serving the interests of both sides as we move forward in our work here at the Georgia DoD.”

Contact: 

1st Lt. William Carraway

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Georgia Department of Defense

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