blog for government and another for Union (interesting reading see excerpt

[The Straight Story]

http://www.govexec.com/fedlog/


FedLog: Hide in Plain Sight

By Tom Shoop
[e-mail]

Welcome to our blog for government. Check back often--and chime in with your own tidbits.

Union Blog
http://www.afge.org/Index.cfm?Page=UnionBlog&HitID=286

excerpt:
Reader 1: My supervisor told me that I have to report to Afghanistan to work next week. I went to the Union and they can't help me.

For the sake of "managerial flexibility" the DOD wants to put us where they need us without such complications as employee rights standing in their way. Our movement need not be to respond to an actual national emergency. DOD wants this power and to use it as a matter of a "business" decision. If you are selected to go - you do have a choice - you may go, quit or be fired.

This is not an exaggeration. Even now, the DOD is asking about 1,000 DOD civilians at Dover AFB to take a series of Anthrax vaccinations. The reason for this is so that DOD civilians can be sent into "war zones" with the military.

[LiberalAndProud]

1. Aha! The Not-a-Draft draft.

Guess he could quit though. and hope to get a unemployment check for a while before losing his house and declaring bankruptcy.

Bet if you check the overall employee debt-load, you'd see big red numbers.

[The Straight Story]

2. Here is another interesting one from there on homeland security

Bush's Homeland Security Flop
October 26, 2004

By AJ Castilla
Federal Airport Screener
Local 1
Boston, MA

As a former Lebanon peace keeper, a over fifteen year public safety professional and current federal Homeland Security agent, I challenge Bush's claim he's the best president for our nation's security.

How can he be, when more firefighters, police officers and first responders were laid off under his administration than at any time in our nation's history? How can he be when he hasn't tried lifting the hiring freeze most Homeland Security agencies are still hampered by?

There is no way we can successfully secure our borders, the nation's airports, train stations, subways, buses or anything shipped. Not if we don't have enough employees by which to make us safer.

A full three years after 9-11, our department still has no national "Terror Watch List" system for the nation's numerous imploring law enforcement agencies to access. During the three years following 9-11, because of his administration's repeated efforts to privatize as many federal and union jobs as possible, thousands of our more job experienced federal agents have quit.

Leading agencies already hard pressed to defend our homeland against terrorists, like US Customs, Border Patrol, and the Transportation Security Administration, all...saw more than ten thousand resign. Our ability to insure our public safety mission has been greatly undermined to the point we struggle mightily to train, re-certify and retain those already forced to work more hours than wise, in order to compensate for that serious gap.

http://www.afge.org/Index.cfm?Page=UnionBlog&FuseAction=View&BlogID=97&Type=U