National Federation of Federal Employees
Encyclopedia
The National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) is an American
labor union
which represents about 100,000 public employees in the federal government
.
NFFE has about 200 local unions, most of them agency-wide bargaining units. Its members work primarily in the Department of Defense
, the Forest Service
, the Department of Veterans Affairs
, the General Services Administration
, the National Park Service
, the Army Corps of Engineers
, the Department of Housing and Urban Development
, and the Passport Services division of the Bureau of Consular Affairs
(Department of State
).
on the local level beginning in the early 1880s. Unions representing letter carriers and railway postal clerks won passage in 1888 of federal legislation mandating an eight-hour day
for postal workers. In 1898, these two unions—with the support of the Knights of Labor
and the American Federation of Labor
—pushed for legislation revising federal postal salaries as well. Although the effort was unsuccessful, a union of postal clerks organized in 1900.
The growing power of these and other unions in the federal government led President
Theodore Roosevelt
to issue Executive order 163 on January 31, 1902, banning federal workers from "individually or through associations,[soliciting] an increase of pay, or to influence or to attempt to influence in their own interest any legislation whatever, either before Congress or its Committees, or in any way save through the heads of the Departments in or under which they serve, on penalty of dismissal from the government service." This Executive Order was expanded by Roosevelt on January 26, 1906, to include the independent agencies
as well. On November 26, 1908, Roosevelt dramatically widened the extent of the Executive Order to include military personnel, expanded the kind of information which could not be communicated, and banned other actions by employees.
Under Congressional pressure, President William H. Taft
made the Executive Order less onerous. On April 8, 1912, Taft amended the order to permit federal workers to communicate with Congress, but required them to do so through their supervisors and department heads.
Unhappy with Taft's refusal to rescind the order entirely, Congress passed the Lloyd-La Follette Act
(§6, ) on August 24, 1912, declaring that "the right of persons employed in the civil service of the United States, either individually or collectively, to petition Congress or any member thereof or to furnish information to either House of Congress or to any committee thereof, shall not be denied or interfered with."
The Lloyd-La Follette Act provided a significant impetus to the formation federal employees' unions. In 1916, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) acted to bring the various local unions together to form a single national union. The National Federation of Federal Employees was founded in Washington, D.C.
, on September 17, 1917. In 1918, it became the first labor union to win the legal right to represent federal workers.
NFFE grew quickly. For example, by 1929 it had organized more than 1,500 workers at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing
. The unit was the largest NFFE chapter in the country, the largest local union in the country, and the largest women's union in the country. NFFE also quickly abandoned its craft focus. Some local chapters—especially those in large federal agencies in Washington, D.C., where the number of workers enabled craft-based bargaining units to remain viable—retained their craft structure. But most of the union's units throughout the country became industrial unions
. Even many of the D.C.-area unions abandoned their craft orientation to become industrial unions with agency-wide bargaining units.
The significance of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing local was not lost on NFFE. NFFE became a strong advocate for women's rights
, and elected a woman, Florence Etheridge, as the chair of its first national council.
NFFE relied heavily on the provisions of the Lloyd-La Follette Act as the basis for its operations. Much of the union's focus was on legislative action. For example, it began advocating for a formal federal job classification system and uniform rates of compensation in 1919. These efforts paid off: The same year, Congress established the Joint Congressional Committee on the Reclassification of Salaries. In 1923, NFFE won passage of the Classification Act, which established uniform, nationwide compensation levels and tied them to the duties and responsibilities of job positions.
In 1931, NFFE disaffiliated from the American Federation of Labor. The break occurred over the AFL's refusal to abandon its support for craft unionism and cease its attacks on industrial unions. NFFE disaffiliated in December 1931. The AFL responded by chartering a new federal employees union, the American Federation of Government Employees
(AFGE), on October 17, 1932.
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy
signed Executive Order 10988, establishing the right of federal workers to engage in collective bargaining
. Consequently, union membership among U.S. government employees soared from 13 percent in 1961 to 60 percent in the 1974. NFFE's membership also grew tremendously, roughly doubling during the same period from 80,000 members to 150,000 members.
In 1963, NFFE was one of the foremost proponents of the Equal Pay Act
.
NFFE became embroiled in a major legal fight with the Reagan administration. In August 1987, the Reagan administration issued civil service rules requiring all federal workers to sign a new secrecy pledge, Standard Form 189. Administration officials said the new form was designed merely to reinforce the need to maintain the security of those documents classified as top secret. But NFFE filed a lawsuit on August 17, 1987, challenging the constitutionality of the secrecy pledge. In May 1988, a U.S. District Court
ruled in National Federation of Federal Employees v. United States (688 F. Supp. 671
) that Standard Form 189 was constitutional. The NFFE and other plaintiffs appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court
. In July 1988, the District Court further held in National Federation of Federal Employees v. United States (695 F. Supp. 1196
) that certain terms in Standard Form 189 needed additional clarification by the executive branch. NFFE appealed this ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
. Meanwhile, in September 1988, the federal government issued Standard Form 312 as a replacement for Standard Form 189. The new form expunged much of the objectionable language which had so deeply concerned NFFE and other unions. On April 18, 1989, the Supreme Court held in American Foreign Service Association v. Garfinkel, 490 U.S. 153
, that the issuance of Standard Form 312 may have resolved the conflict. The Supreme Court remanded the case back to the District Court to resolve any outstanding issues. The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit also remanded the second NFFE lawsuit to District Court. In March 1990, the District Court dismissed the remaining issues in its ruling in American Foreign Service Association v. Garfinkel, 732 F. Supp. 13
), and NFFE dropped any further attempts to revive the suit.
65,000 dues-paying members, and the National Association of Government Employees
(a division of the Service Employees International Union
) 50,000 dues-paying members. The National Federation of Federal Employees, however, had just 45,000 dues-paying members. Much of NFFE's membership losses had come through significant down-sizing of the blue-collar
federal workforce where NFFE's membership was concentrated. NFFE also lost a large number of members due to raiding. The American Federation of Government Employees was particularly aggressive in courting NFFE members and convincing them to switch their union affiliation.
Such raids eventually drove NFFE to re-affiliate with the AFL-CIO. In 1998, AFGE began an organizing drive among 2,600 physicians, nurses and dentists working for the Veterans Health Administration
in the U.S. Department of Veterans' Affairs. The workers were already represented by NFFE, and constituted more than 85 percent of NFFE's membership in the VA health system. As NFFE's voting strength among the workers weakened, the national union's leaders sought to end the raid by affiliating with the AFL-CIO. The AFL-CIO declined to issue a charter, but agreed to readmit the union if it affiliated with an existing AFL-CIO member. The NFFE executive council subsequently agreed to affiliate the union with the International Association of Machinists (IAM). The IAM claimed to represent more than 100,000 federal workers, making it the second-largest union of federal workers. The affiliation did not help, however. Because the organizing dispute began prior to NFFE's affiliation with IAM, the AFL-CIO ruled that the election could go ahead. Although IAM devoted significant resources to the organizing battle, the Machinists' expertise was in the construction and aerospace fields, not health care. After a year-long campaign, AFGE convinced a majority of the VA employees to switch their affiliation in 2000.
[federal] employees." As of 2007, NFFE represented about 100,000 federal workers.
More recently, NFFE waged a lengthy legal battle against the U.S. Department of Defense's new National Security Personnel System. NFFE won several significant rulings in the legal fight but did not prevent the system's implementation, and the union began to pursue legislative remedies in Congress instead.
The union also opposed the Iraq Study Group
's recommendation that the Bush administration force government civilians to serve in Iraq
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
labor union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
which represents about 100,000 public employees in the federal government
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
.
NFFE has about 200 local unions, most of them agency-wide bargaining units. Its members work primarily in the Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
, the Forest Service
United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass...
, the Department of Veterans Affairs
United States Department of Veterans Affairs
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is a government-run military veteran benefit system with Cabinet-level status. It is the United States government’s second largest department, after the United States Department of Defense...
, the General Services Administration
General Services Administration
The General Services Administration is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. The GSA supplies products and communications for U.S...
, the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
, the Army Corps of Engineers
United States Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 38,000 civilian and military personnel, making it the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency...
, the Department of Housing and Urban Development
United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, also known as HUD, is a Cabinet department in the Executive branch of the United States federal government...
, and the Passport Services division of the Bureau of Consular Affairs
Bureau of Consular Affairs
The Bureau of Consular Affairs is a bureau of the United States Department of State within that department's management office. The mission of the Bureau is to administer laws, formulate regulations and implement policies relating to the broad range of consular services and immigration. , the...
(Department of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
).
Formation
Workers in federal agencies had formed craft-based unionsCraft unionism
Craft unionism refers to organizing a union in a manner that seeks to unify workers in a particular industry along the lines of the particular craft or trade that they work in by class or skill level...
on the local level beginning in the early 1880s. Unions representing letter carriers and railway postal clerks won passage in 1888 of federal legislation mandating an eight-hour day
Eight-hour day
The eight-hour day movement or 40-hour week movement, also known as the short-time movement, had its origins in the Industrial Revolution in Britain, where industrial production in large factories transformed working life and imposed long hours and poor working conditions. With working conditions...
for postal workers. In 1898, these two unions—with the support of the Knights of Labor
Knights of Labor
The Knights of Labor was the largest and one of the most important American labor organizations of the 1880s. Its most important leader was Terence Powderly...
and the American Federation of Labor
American Federation of Labor
The American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers was elected president of the Federation at its...
—pushed for legislation revising federal postal salaries as well. Although the effort was unsuccessful, a union of postal clerks organized in 1900.
The growing power of these and other unions in the federal government led President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
to issue Executive order 163 on January 31, 1902, banning federal workers from "individually or through associations,
Independent agencies of the United States government
Independent agencies of the United States federal government are those agencies that exist outside of the federal executive departments...
as well. On November 26, 1908, Roosevelt dramatically widened the extent of the Executive Order to include military personnel, expanded the kind of information which could not be communicated, and banned other actions by employees.
Under Congressional pressure, President William H. Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
made the Executive Order less onerous. On April 8, 1912, Taft amended the order to permit federal workers to communicate with Congress, but required them to do so through their supervisors and department heads.
Unhappy with Taft's refusal to rescind the order entirely, Congress passed the Lloyd-La Follette Act
Lloyd-La Follette Act
The Lloyd-La Follette Act in 1912 began the process of protecting civil servants in the United States from unwarranted or abusive removal by codifying "just cause" standards previously embodied in presidential orders. It defines "just causes" as those that would promote the "efficiency of the...
(§6, ) on August 24, 1912, declaring that "the right of persons employed in the civil service of the United States, either individually or collectively, to petition Congress or any member thereof or to furnish information to either House of Congress or to any committee thereof, shall not be denied or interfered with."
The Lloyd-La Follette Act provided a significant impetus to the formation federal employees' unions. In 1916, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) acted to bring the various local unions together to form a single national union. The National Federation of Federal Employees was founded in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, on September 17, 1917. In 1918, it became the first labor union to win the legal right to represent federal workers.
History
Bureau of Engraving and Printing
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing is a government agency within the United States Department of the Treasury that designs and produces a variety of security products for the United States government, most notable of which is paper currency for the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve itself is...
. The unit was the largest NFFE chapter in the country, the largest local union in the country, and the largest women's union in the country. NFFE also quickly abandoned its craft focus. Some local chapters—especially those in large federal agencies in Washington, D.C., where the number of workers enabled craft-based bargaining units to remain viable—retained their craft structure. But most of the union's units throughout the country became industrial unions
Industrial unionism
Industrial unionism is a labor union organizing method through which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union—regardless of skill or trade—thus giving workers in one industry, or in all industries, more leverage in bargaining and in strike situations...
. Even many of the D.C.-area unions abandoned their craft orientation to become industrial unions with agency-wide bargaining units.
The significance of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing local was not lost on NFFE. NFFE became a strong advocate for women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
, and elected a woman, Florence Etheridge, as the chair of its first national council.
NFFE relied heavily on the provisions of the Lloyd-La Follette Act as the basis for its operations. Much of the union's focus was on legislative action. For example, it began advocating for a formal federal job classification system and uniform rates of compensation in 1919. These efforts paid off: The same year, Congress established the Joint Congressional Committee on the Reclassification of Salaries. In 1923, NFFE won passage of the Classification Act, which established uniform, nationwide compensation levels and tied them to the duties and responsibilities of job positions.
In 1931, NFFE disaffiliated from the American Federation of Labor. The break occurred over the AFL's refusal to abandon its support for craft unionism and cease its attacks on industrial unions. NFFE disaffiliated in December 1931. The AFL responded by chartering a new federal employees union, the American Federation of Government Employees
American Federation of Government Employees
The American Federation of Government Employees is an American labor union representing over 625,000 employees of the federal government, about 5,000 employees of the District of Columbia, and a few hundred private sector employees, mostly in and around federal facilities...
(AFGE), on October 17, 1932.
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
signed Executive Order 10988, establishing the right of federal workers to engage in collective bargaining
Collective bargaining
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between employers and the representatives of a unit of employees aimed at reaching agreements that regulate working conditions...
. Consequently, union membership among U.S. government employees soared from 13 percent in 1961 to 60 percent in the 1974. NFFE's membership also grew tremendously, roughly doubling during the same period from 80,000 members to 150,000 members.
In 1963, NFFE was one of the foremost proponents of the Equal Pay Act
Equal Pay Act of 1963
The Equal Pay Act of 1963 is a United States federal law amending the Fair Labor Standards Act, aimed at abolishing wage disparity based on sex . It was signed into law on June 10, 1963 by John F. Kennedy as part of his New Frontier Program...
.
NFFE became embroiled in a major legal fight with the Reagan administration. In August 1987, the Reagan administration issued civil service rules requiring all federal workers to sign a new secrecy pledge, Standard Form 189. Administration officials said the new form was designed merely to reinforce the need to maintain the security of those documents classified as top secret. But NFFE filed a lawsuit on August 17, 1987, challenging the constitutionality of the secrecy pledge. In May 1988, a U.S. District Court
United States district court
The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...
ruled in National Federation of Federal Employees v. United States (688 F. Supp. 671
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
) that Standard Form 189 was constitutional. The NFFE and other plaintiffs appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
. In July 1988, the District Court further held in National Federation of Federal Employees v. United States (695 F. Supp. 1196
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
) that certain terms in Standard Form 189 needed additional clarification by the executive branch. NFFE appealed this ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit known informally as the D.C. Circuit, is the federal appellate court for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Appeals from the D.C. Circuit, as with all the U.S. Courts of Appeals, are heard on a...
. Meanwhile, in September 1988, the federal government issued Standard Form 312 as a replacement for Standard Form 189. The new form expunged much of the objectionable language which had so deeply concerned NFFE and other unions. On April 18, 1989, the Supreme Court held in American Foreign Service Association v. Garfinkel, 490 U.S. 153
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
, that the issuance of Standard Form 312 may have resolved the conflict. The Supreme Court remanded the case back to the District Court to resolve any outstanding issues. The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit also remanded the second NFFE lawsuit to District Court. In March 1990, the District Court dismissed the remaining issues in its ruling in American Foreign Service Association v. Garfinkel, 732 F. Supp. 13
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
), and NFFE dropped any further attempts to revive the suit.
Membership losses and affiliation
By 1989, NFFE—once the second-largest union representing federal workers—had shed nearly three-quarters of its members. The American Federation of Government Employees now had 180,000 dues-paying members, the International Association of Machinists 100,000 dues-paying members, the National Treasury Employees UnionNational Treasury Employees Union
The National Treasury Employees Union is an independent labor union representing approximately 150,000 employees of 30 agencies of the United States government...
65,000 dues-paying members, and the National Association of Government Employees
National Association of Government Employees
National Association of Government Employees is an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union representing primarily federal and state government workers in the USA.- History :...
(a division of the Service Employees International Union
Service Employees International Union
Service Employees International Union is a labor union representing about 1.8 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States , and Canada...
) 50,000 dues-paying members. The National Federation of Federal Employees, however, had just 45,000 dues-paying members. Much of NFFE's membership losses had come through significant down-sizing of the blue-collar
Blue-collar worker
A blue-collar worker is a member of the working class who performs manual labor. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled, manufacturing, mining, construction, mechanical, maintenance, technical installation and many other types of physical work...
federal workforce where NFFE's membership was concentrated. NFFE also lost a large number of members due to raiding. The American Federation of Government Employees was particularly aggressive in courting NFFE members and convincing them to switch their union affiliation.
Such raids eventually drove NFFE to re-affiliate with the AFL-CIO. In 1998, AFGE began an organizing drive among 2,600 physicians, nurses and dentists working for the Veterans Health Administration
Veterans Health Administration
The Veterans Health Administration is the component of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs led by the Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Health that implements the medical assistance program of the VA through the administration and operation of numerous VA outpatient clinics,...
in the U.S. Department of Veterans' Affairs. The workers were already represented by NFFE, and constituted more than 85 percent of NFFE's membership in the VA health system. As NFFE's voting strength among the workers weakened, the national union's leaders sought to end the raid by affiliating with the AFL-CIO. The AFL-CIO declined to issue a charter, but agreed to readmit the union if it affiliated with an existing AFL-CIO member. The NFFE executive council subsequently agreed to affiliate the union with the International Association of Machinists (IAM). The IAM claimed to represent more than 100,000 federal workers, making it the second-largest union of federal workers. The affiliation did not help, however. Because the organizing dispute began prior to NFFE's affiliation with IAM, the AFL-CIO ruled that the election could go ahead. Although IAM devoted significant resources to the organizing battle, the Machinists' expertise was in the construction and aerospace fields, not health care. After a year-long campaign, AFGE convinced a majority of the VA employees to switch their affiliation in 2000.
Recent issues
The IAM affiliation, however, helped to significantly strength NFFE in the longer term. New raids on NFFE membership no longer occurred, and the union's administrative and financial resources greatly improved. NFFE is now considered "a key player in backing collective bargaining and appeal rights ofMore recently, NFFE waged a lengthy legal battle against the U.S. Department of Defense's new National Security Personnel System. NFFE won several significant rulings in the legal fight but did not prevent the system's implementation, and the union began to pursue legislative remedies in Congress instead.
The union also opposed the Iraq Study Group
Iraq Study Group
The Iraq Study group , was a ten-person bipartisan panel appointed on March 15, 2006, by the United States Congress, that was charged with assessing the situation in Iraq and the US-led Iraq War and making policy recommendations...
's recommendation that the Bush administration force government civilians to serve in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
.
Death of Richard Brown
NFFE President Richard N. Brown died unexpectedly at his home in Arlington, Virginia, at the age of 47 on June 30, 2009. William Dougan, the union's Secretary-Treasurer, was automatically elevated to the position of President to serve out the rest of Brown's term (which expires in 2012).Presidents
- Howard Marion McLarin, September 24, 1917-June 30, 1918
- Luther Corwin Steward, September 1, 1918-August 19, 1955
- Michael E. Markwood, September 1, 1955-January 27, 1957
- Vaux Owen, January 29, 1957-September 30, 1964
- Nathan Tully Wolkomir, October 1, 1964-October 31, 1976
- James Monroe Peirce, Jr., November 1, 1976-October 31, 1990
- Sheila K. Velazco, November 1, 1990-October 31, 1992
- Robert Scott Keener, November 1, 1992-January 2, 1994
- Sheila K. Velazco, January 3, 1994-October 31, 1994
- Louis Jasmine, November 1, 1994-September 8, 1995
- Sonya Constaine, September 9, 1995-October 1, 1995
- Robert Eugene Estep, Jr., October 2, 1995-May 2, 1996
- Gary Wayne Divine, May 3, 1996-October 31, 1996
- James Doyle Cunningham, November 1, 1996-February 21, 1998
- Albert Schmidt, February 22, 1998-October 31, 1998
- Richard N. Brown, November 1, 1998-June 30, 2009 (deceased)
- William Dougan, July 1, 2009-present