This Pay Freeze is Absolute Nonsense

I would like to state that this pay freeze is absolute nonsense. I am a federal employee that works at a VA facility. I have worked at this facility for a few years supplying top-level care to our vets. I have been working part-time for three years and was in line with a number of my fellow employees for a promotion that was earned to full-time. What happened was there were open positions for full-time when prior f.t. employees either left or retired. What the federal government did was instead of filling those positions and granting all of us hard workers our rightful positions, they chose to bring in part-time temporary employees.

We were told this would alleviate overtime from employees already at a full-time state that earn top dollar after being employed from 15-30 plus years. We were told these part-time temporary employees would receive absolutely no over time it would only be available to part-time permanent employees.

They joke was on us who believed what management said.

Our AFGE union president was notified by management to come in at a sit down on our behalf because permanent employees are a bargaining unit. To make a long story short before those temps were hired they were suppose to open up the full-time position for us federal part-time workers. Our union president to my knowledge never showed up for this meeting and management went ahead and instituted what they wanted to do. Now these part-time temps are getting the overtime hours that are rightly supposed to go to the bargaining unit and now this pay freeze and also the hiring freeze has left an unpleasant taste in our mouths.

Yuzette Neal
AFGE Local 1012
Department of Veterans Affairs, New Jersey