Taxpayers foot bill for union work, lawmakers seek changes

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News:

When he arrived on Capitol Hill in January, freshman Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., discovered something he had no clue was going on. Hundreds of federal employees spend their entire workday -- not doing the business of the government, but working for their unions.

 

Hice told Fox News he was shocked by what he found.

 

"Waste on an egregious level by federal employees who are taking taxpayer monies and using it for purposes other than the reason they were hired," Hice said.

 

It's called "official time," and it was sanctioned into law by Congress in 1978. Lawmakers voted to allow federal employees who are union members to spend part of their day addressing union issues. The reason behind the law: Federal employees are not required to join a union even if they are covered by a collective bargaining agreement. The Civil Service Reform Act was designed to make up the financial gap of unions having to represent employees who did not pay dues, by allowing federal workers to "volunteer" time during their working hours to address grievances, work on collective bargaining and deal with other issues.

 

But Hice argues that the situation has gotten out of control, and he's pushing new legislation to change it.

 

According to the Office of Personnel Management, in 2012 (the most recent year there are statistics for) federal workers spent 3.4 million man-hours on union issues and not the work they were hired for. OPM estimates the cost to taxpayers was more than $157 million.

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Your union dues at work...