SAFETY ALERT

Based upon the recommendation of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Local 1613 would like to inform our members of these recommendation to minimize possible lead exposure after participating in activities at the firearms ranges.

Personal hygiene is important for protecting employees from exposure to lead dust and for preventing the transfer of lead out of the workplace. All employees exposed to lead should wash their hands and faces (cold water) with lead removal wipes or soap before eating, drinking, or smoking. Additionally, they should not eat, drink, or use tobacco products (cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, etc.) in the firing range, gun cleaning area, or classroom.

Employees should change into work clothes and shoes upon arrival at the worksite. Street clothes and shoes should be stored separately from work clothes in a clean area. Contaminated work clothes should be removed before eating and replaced with a clean set of work clothes. Alternatively, disposable shoe covers could be put on prior to entering the range and then discarded upon leaving the range. Employees should change back into their street clothes and shoes after washing their hands and faces and before leaving the range.

 

We encourage you to discuss your work and possible lead exposures with your healthcare provider. If you have children, we recommend you discuss this possible source of lead exposure with their doctor.

Ronald Zermeno
NBPC 1613 Health and Safety Officer

BUDGET ALERT

The Office of Border Patrol (OBP) is approaching the end of the fiscal year. This is the time to ramp up our efforts to let our agency and our representatives know that we will not support another year of grandstanding, whitewashing and finger pointing. If we do nothing we will be in the same place we were last year come October 1, 2013. We will be facing sequestration, furloughs, decertification and a decrease in man-hours. Operating under Continuing Resolutions (CR) and Sequestration has damaged the safety of America and made it impossible for Border Patrol Agents to effectively do the jobs they have sworn an oath to do. Due to budgetary restraints manpower has been limited and invaluable resources have been underutilized. A perfect example is our canine teams. Every year OBP managers refuse to allow these teams to work the hours they are needed in order to accomplish the mission. Managers know this is going to be an issue every year around this time yet they draw a line in the sand and say they will not allow these resources to be deployed as needed because of a bean counting, bonuses threatening issues referred to as the salary cap. Canine teams are subject to the same salary constraints as other agents (even though they have the added responsibility of housing and caring for their canine partners). This causes them stress and hardship every year. Due to these constraints a waiver process was put into place so that this would not affect the mission. The problem is that the managers responsible for requesting and allowing the waivers are directly affected by having their bonuses diminish if they spend the necessary funds to keep these canine teams in the field all year. So, you can see the conflict of interest. If they allow the canines to work it directly affects their bottom line. This is just one effect of the budgetary restraints placed on The Border Patrol every year.

 

The following statements are directly from the DHS website. This is what was requested and their reasoning.

 

Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) fiscal year (FY) 2014 budget request of $39.0 billion in net discretionary funding.  Recognizing the current fiscal environment, the Department’s net discretionary amount is 2 percent below the FY 2012 enacted level.

 

Securing and Managing Our Borders - The FY 2014 Budget continues the Administration’s robust border security efforts, while facilitating legitimate travel and trade.  It sustains historic deployments of personnel along U.S. borders as well as the continued utilization of proven, effective surveillance technology along the highest trafficked areas of the Southwest Border to continue achieving record levels of apprehensions and seizures.

 

Nationwide, Border Patrol apprehensions of illegal aliens, a key indicator of illegal immigration, decreased from nearly 724,000 in fiscal year 2008 to approximately 365,000 in fiscal year 2012, a nearly 50-percent reduction and a 78% decrease from their peak in 2000. This indicates that, as a result of increased enforcement, fewer people are attempting to illegally cross the border.

 

Under this Administration, DHS has dedicated historic levels of personnel, technology, and resources to our borders. The number of Border Patrol agents has more than doubled in size since 2004, to 21,370 agents. The number of Customs and Border Protection officers has also increased to 21,775.

 

According to these statements (accomplishments?) they will continue to ask the Border Patrol to do more with less. That has been the prevailing mantra of Chief Fisher and the current OBP management for years. I can understand that business model if this was a business that had a product and produced a profit (as does The Office of Field Operations). Border Patrol does not produce a profit and someone needs to stand up and say no more. The nation’s security is more important than a bottom line, a bonus or a promotion! Border Patrol Agents are having their pay cut, their hours “managed”, their canine partners kenneled and their ability to perform their mission dulled. Agents are being terminated, disciplined and committing suicide in record numbers. It is time to take a hard look at our policies. It is time to realize this is one of the premier law enforcement agencies in the country and not McDonalds.

I suggest every agent, their friends and family call their local representatives and tell them the following.

What we need:

1.      Pass a Budget!

2.      Secure the Borders!

3.      Give and utilize the waivers for our canine teams every year!

4.      A smarter pay system that allows for the optimal utilization of current and future workforce. (Border Patrol Pay Reform Act)!

5.      Reform of our Labor Employee/Human Resources system!

 

Terence L. Shigg

Proposed Constitution And Bylaws

Local 1613 Official Notice of Intent To Amend Constitution

Current Constitution And Bylaws

Legislative Update

The National Border Patrol Council continues to meet with representatives in Washington DC in order to explain and garner support for the Border Patrol Pay Reform Act.

With the assistance of our lobbyist McAllister and Quinn last month alone we had over 30 meetings with representatives and several meetings with Agency representatives. Some of them included staff members of the following legislators:

Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota

Senator Ron Robinson of Wisconsin

Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin

Senator Mark Pryor of Arizona

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky

Senator Jeff Chiesa of New Jersey

Representative Ruben Hinojosa of Texas

Senator John McCain of Arizona

Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire

Senator Rob Portman of Ohio

Senator Mark Begich of Alaska

All of the meetings went very well. All members were very receptive to Border Patrol issues. Some of the highlights of what we discussed are below. If you are currently stationed in these representatives area or if you have family in these districts it would help our efforts if you could call their offices and tell them you want them to support Border Patrol Pay reform.

Border Patrol Pay Reform

The Border Patrol Council and the Administration have come to agreement on a pay reform package.  This package modernizes agent pay, greatly enhances border security, and saves the federal government money.    Key components include:

·         Agents will have three options on overtime.  They may work 100 hours per pay period and receive a 25% differential, work 90 hours and receive a 12.5% differential, or work no overtime at all. Agents make the election once a year.      

·         Overtime worked beyond 100 hours will be treated as compensatory time off. 

·         Agents who are a GS 12 and below will receive a one- time two step increase to offset the loss in FLSA overtime.

The Border Patrol estimates that this reform package will save the government $134 million per year.  This reform was introduced as an amendment by Senator Tester to the comprehensive immigration reform package, but was not considered as part of the floor debate due to objections to procedural rules. 

Hoeven-Corker Amendment to Immigration Reform

The Senate adopted an amendment by Senators Hoeven and Corker that increased the funding for border security to $46 billion.  This amendment included: 

·         $30 billion to double the number of border patrol agents to 40,000

·         $4.5 billion for border security technologies

·         $7.5 billion to double border fencing

The intent of the Hoeven-Corker amendment is to double the manpower at the border.  However, there is no need to double the workforce to achieve this objective.  Under the Tester amendment, over 90% of the agents could be scheduled to work a 10-hour day instead of an 8-hour day.  This additional two hours per day gives the Border Patrol an additional ¼ of an Agent and greatly increases manpower in the field when it needs it most.

By our estimates, if the Tester amendment were applied to both the existing number of Agents and potentially new Agents hired under Hoeven-Corker, we could double manpower in the field by hiring only 12,500 new Agents – not 20,000 new Agents.  The rough estimate is this would save the federal government approximately $12 billion in payroll and benefits alone.

The National Border Patrol Council believes whether they hire 1 or 20,000 new agents we need our archaic pay system reformed.

Terence L. Shigg

NBPC Legislative Committee member

 

Next Union Meeting August 13, 2013 @ 7pm.

Agenda:
Bylaws and Constitution changes will be voted on.
Legislative committee update
Media training report
K9 Kenneling issues
AUO issues
Arbitrations update
Union office update