Lisa Rein, The Washington Post - President Biden’s sweeping mandate to vaccinate millions of federal workers and contractors against the coronavirus left officials confronting how to carry it out amid a fusillade of workplace rules that could complicate — and lengthen — the process and further upend a government struggling to return to normal. FMA National President Craig Carter warns of "Tasking managers with standing up a public health testing structure." Natalie Alms, FCW Frontline agency managers and executives have questions about how they'll implement the Biden administration's vaccination and testing requirements, they said in an Aug. 25 letter to top administration officials released publicly on Thursday. Once a month the Federal Managers Association writes a Hear It from FMA article for the FEDmanager.com newsletter. This article originally ran in the September 7, 2021 issue. - America’s aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines are arguably the best investment in human history. They allow the United States to project power to every corner of the globe, protecting sea lanes, deterring our adversaries from aggressive conflict, providing an unassailable nuclear deterrent, keeping open critical straits and canals, and enabling rapid humanitarian responses to crises. The strength of the United States Navy has been critical to ensuring relative peace around the world over more than seventy years. There is no doubt that building and maintaining nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers, and their escorts and support ships is expensive. However, considering ongoing threats by the Chinese over Taiwan and the broader Pacific, there are two choices available to us. Either the United States can invest in proper maintenance, modernization, and expansion for the Navy, or we can choose to save money right now. The second choice would mean we are unable to defend critical interests within the next decade. FCW INSIDER -- Defense Department hires could get a shorter probationary period in the 2022 defense policy bill, but the Federal Managers Association has urged against it. FMA National President Craig Carter spoke with Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko about the current guidance from the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force related to the administration's vaccine and testing policy. By Nicole Ogrysko, Federal News Network Nearly one month after the Biden administration first announced plans to adopt a vaccine and testing policy for federal employees and contractors, managers — presumably the ones charged with implementing and enforcing the new program on the ground level — say they’re still looking for answers about how it’ll work. FEDmanager.com publishes a regular collection of pieces by partner organizations called FEDforum. For the latest FEDforum, the guiding question was: "How are you supporting your members’ return to in-person work? Or, how are you supporting skills around the future of work (for groups whose employees may be remaining remote or were never remote at all)?" The following is FMA's response. Some FMA members are returning to their physical workplaces after more than a year of a maximum telework posture. Others have been given permission to transition to an indefinite future in which their jobs are conducted either fully or primarily remotely. Both options present real challenges to be overcome and FMA is working hard to assist our members in addressing them. Hear It from FMA, FEDMANAGER.com Locality pay exists because some areas have significantly different costs of living from others. San Francisco, for example, has a locality pay 41.4% higher than federal General Schedule base pay. This is because of the vastly higher cost of living in San Francisco compared to much of the country; while the median rent in San Francisco costs $3,035 per month, the median rent in the state of West Virginia is $727 per month. On June 30, Reps. Derek Kilmer (D-WA) and Tom Cole (R-OK) introduced bipartisan legislation, the Federal Retirement Fairness Act, in the House of Representatives. The bill, which FMA has endorsed, would allow FERS employees to make catch-up retirement contributions for temporary service. Kilmer and Cole introduced similar legislation in the 116th Congress. FMA applauds these legislators for their continuing effort on this issue. Rep. Kilmer quoted FMA Chapter 14 (Puget Sound Naval Shipyard) President James Cappa in his press release upon introduction. "The Federal Managers Association (FMA) appreciates the support, time and efforts from both Representatives Kilmer (D-WA6) and Representative Cole (R-OK4) on the introduction of the Bipartisan bill "Federal Retirement Fairness Act". Federal workers would like to see this inequality corrected and allow Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) employees to make deposits (buy-back the time) in the same manner as CSRS employees,” Cappa said. Federal Managers Groups Largely Support Trump OPM Pick By Erich Wagner, Government Executive The Trump administration’s nomination of George Nesterczuk to serve as director of the Office of Personnel Management is already making waves among groups that represent federal workers. While groups representing managers voiced varying levels of support for the announcement Wednesday, a union official was warier of the choice.
FMA Executive Director Wells anticipates many feds will not vaccinate causing disruptions to many agencies' missions.
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