Negotiation Session Report
April 19 – 22, 2009
Cliff Fussell, SEA Exec
The Officers, Execs and Area Negotiation Consultants traveled to Washington, DC on Sunday April 19, 2009 for the annual negotiation session. Sabrina Conditt from Arkansas served as the Negotiation Consultant for the Southeast Area and it was her first time to see how things work in the South Building. Monday we met as a group going over each item discussing the response received from management and then determined whether we needed to bring out other points about the issue. We discussed some program items that we had not gotten a response on. Bob Redding came and spoke to the group, telling us his take on the legislative conference, and where we were in the legislative process. Bob believes we are still on course to accomplish the things we want to accomplish.
At the USDA South Building on Tuesday we had introductions. We started our meeting with Robert Stephenson, Acting DAFO, his staff, Barbara Boyd, and her staff from Human Resources. We spent over three hours with this group as many of our items are personnel related. We were also updated on the status of our request for PT Reclassification. NASCOE President Bonnie Heinzman will be sending out the latest on this item. Of these items we spent a considerable amount of time on performance plans and ratings.
That afternoon we met with Jim Owens and Heidi Ware from the Budget Division along with their staff. The budget for our Agency is extremely tight. Infact, they feel this is as tight as it has ever been. The agency is committed to keeping our staffing levels current for this FY but they are really concerned about next year and what they can do. They do not believe we can let our staffing levels go any lower without seriously compromising our mission. The budget is one of the reasons we are having such a hard time getting programs out to our producers.
We then met with Harold Staten from the Management Service Division and his staff. They realize the leasing problems that are out there, but explained that part of the problem is at the state level and not at the national level. One state had 61 month to month leases and when reviewing these they didn’t have everything they needed from the STO on all 61 leases. They could not move forward until the state provided them with the information needed.
The next morning we started with Phil Short who is the new Deputy Administrator for Management. There were only a few issues to discuss with him so we were done by . We met with Jim Gwinn and Patrick Hanley with ITSD. Jim is in charge of the computer acquisition and the computer system. He is very aware of the problems we have had. I believe is on track to get them solved and getting us positioned to bring other programs on line. Patrick Hanley is in charge of MIDAS and Kim Graham is assisting him. This is the group that is looking at everything we do to see if there is a better way of doing things. They went out to about 15 county offices and met with people from about 100 other offices to see what the biggest problems the folks in the COF’s felt needed attention.
Dennis Taitano, Acting Administrator, met with us and discussed the budget issue for 09 and he expressed even greater concerns for the 2010 year. They are looking at all possible ways to save during this continued budget crunch.
We finished the day with Candy Thompson, Acting Deputy Administrator for Farm Programs and her staff. We discussed a number of farm program issues. They are really struggling as they are trying to get all the programs written as they relate to the farm bill with a reduced staff and the change in administration. Everything they are doing has to go to the Secretary’s Office. Training of course was discussed and how this can be delivered with such a tight budget. It was refreshing to hear from management that they realize we need more training for the field. Still went back to BUDGET.
While in DC, the announcement was made about the new administrator, Doug Caruso. He was the SED in Wisconsin from 1993 to 2001.