ALEXANDRIA, Va. -
Because the raises are larger than the 3.5% merit pay hikes proposed in the pending budget, the contract will add about $800,000 in pay and benefits to the agency's spending for 2008.
As a result of the contract, NCUA will increase merit raises for the rest of its administrative and regional staff to 5% for 2008, as well. About 75% of the 70 employees covered under the pact are examiners. The contract with the National Treasury Employees Union, Chapter 303, maintains a mobile workforce, as most examiners work out of their homes. At the same time, according to NCUA, the contract preserves management's right to assign and approve work in order to manage work flow and team schedules.
"The agreement is a very positive development for both agency management and employees," said NCUA Executive Director J. Leonard Skiles. "I am pleased that after a lengthy bargaining process NCUA could now agree to a compensation package that rewards outstanding performance and assures that the agency will continue to recruit and retain highly qualified staff. With the increased complexity in federally insured credit unions, the agreement better positions NCUA to meet this essential goal.
"The agreement will allow for improved consistency in conducting operational programs and will provide for scheduling flexibility, an important quality of life issue for NCUA employees," Skiles said. "The agreement also reinforces the importance of being good stewards of credit union funds. Although the agreement will initially require some budgetary adjustments, those adjustments were past due and needed."
Colleen Kelley, president of the government workers union, said the three-year negotiations were difficult and prolonged. "This was a very difficult agreement to bargain and NTEU had to fight off a number of agency proposals that would be harmful to frontline employees including pay cuts and limited grievance and arbitration rights," she said in a statement.
Additionally NTEU successfully fought to retain the designation of examiners' homes as official work sites and held firm against a proposal that would have eliminated nearly all mileage reimbursement payments for examiners who use their private vehicles for agency travel from the home work site to credit unions. NCUA has saved millions of dollars by having employees work from their homes and these proposals would have penalized employees for no reason.
