Congress, OPM expose gross abuse of ‘taxpayer funded union time within the federal government’

[WestVirginiaRebel]

The Blaze

GOP lawmakers are echoing concerns from the Office of Personnel Management regarding the abuse of a law that grants paid time off to unionized civil servants.

A joint report was released by Republican members from both the House and Senate on Thursday, exposing startling survey data about the amount of time some federal government union employees spend working on behalf of their labor organizations — on the taxpayers’ dime.

The law allows union members to take time off from their government jobs (with pay) in order to engage in what’s known as “official time,” where the employees can participate in activities on behalf of their labor organizations. Collective bargaining, worker disputes, and whistleblowing are all examples of labor-management activities that would qualify.

Following their own report, OPM Director Jeff Pon called such activities “Taxpayer Funded Union Time within the Federal Government.”

How bad is it?

Republican staff said in the committee report: “Some collective bargaining agreements allow certain labor union employees to spend 100 percent of their time on official time. These employees are subsidized by American taxpayer dollars, but do not have to do their regularly assigned work.”

Pon estimates the cost of official time to taxpayers hit roughly $174.8 million in 2016, the latest year reported.

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Time off on your dime.