Internal Revenue Service

Covid is getting worse in most places. People will be going back just when their vaccinations are wearing off ... should have gone back before when people had more immunity ... it's not a good plan!

Larger daycare by us announced they are closing permanently in 2 weeks. Grocery store cut hours. Gas station now closes at 10pm. Schools are on/off random at home learning. Good luck on getting in for routine car upkeep and having life needs met for RTO.

Running against the wind and tide of change. GAAP cowboys we will always ride. Its a decimal thing.

Read the Washington Post. If you have a mild Covid case with little or even no symptoms, there is still a 30% chance you will develop Long Covid that will last a year or more ... maybe for life!

It's a fluid situation. New York City is approaching a COVID alert level of “high,” according to an advisory from the health department on Monday, that urges New Yorkers to again wear face mask in indoor settings. For now, the city’s alert level remains “medium,” but cases are rising.

The Washington compost? Yeah talk about misinformation

So you are going to stay locked in your room until Covid disappears?

I agree the optics were poor to have NTEU in the office. To be fair we can't assume their personal situation allowed them to telework. I would like to see a written reply from NTEU as to why they were working in the office and why they see that as not undermining its membership.

Prior to covid many companies had telework that had the ring around it to be a financial penalty issue to work from home. Primarily telework was designed around the financial penalty for parents, caregivers, disabled and older workers that didn't save enough to retire. There is bias thinking that telework allows workers to find another job. There are economic fallacies that the loss of in person reporting to the office undermines management control and local business.

I found it odd that NTEU founded in Wisconsin didn't apply the history of that states history on telework. Many Wisconsin companies have had telework for decades. The truth is Wisconsin industries used telework as a reward/punishment system. Workers had to be with the company for so long, had to meet performance levels & accept pay/benefit cuts. Almost always teleworkers were not paid sick time as a tradeoff. 50% pay reduction or minimum wage pay for vacation is common for teleworkers up north. Teleworkers seldom had more than healthcare coverage as a benefit due to benefit rules. Supervisors of telework units often had 100 or more employees because there was far less administrative duties. In some companies you could do 30 days in the office a year for added benefits like dental and vision.

Benefits. How much would you trade off for 100% telework? Decimal monster as we say back home, to care for a sick family member you take a pay cut & things go on until you get food stamps. The accountant rodeo.

I don't agree with RTO. Based on my experience of the payback for telework from Wisconsin I'll be a pretender for awhile as I roll closer to retirement. If it gets too much oh well, its just a job.

I’m in Appeals and we’ve had to go into the office twice per pay period to pick up and drop off cases throughout the pandemic. When we RTO in June I will be forced to stay the entire day.

I’m not looking forward to RTO because other than hanging around for maybe 30 minutes to get some supplies, there’s no legit business reason for me to be there. None of my team works on the same days and my Manager isn’t even there when I go in. It feels like we’re going back just to go back.

Edited by user Tuesday, May 24, 2022 5:00:46 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Having been on both sides of the bargaining table with AFSCME/AFL-CIO and on the management side facing off against the Teamsters its never as cut and dry as it looks. Hint, I won against the Teamsters in my first job as a manager because I was the union president's daughter.

Not defending either side just stating the pragmatic reality. Its the pragmatic, the devil in the details, those often sidetracks both labor and management.

There just is an art to the bargaining table. It takes an artist to paint the picture. The union failed at two issues. One, LWOP exception. Two, equipment. Those bases should of been covered even if more concessions had to be made for less telework. You can always grow but its pretty hard to put the jeannie back in the bottle.

The rush to educate labor leaders lost the art of the bargaining table. My mother didn't have a stitch of accounting skills and no understanding of public budgets when she wrote the first union contract for an AFSCME local. The first contract was a few pages long. The fill in the contract came later when the labor attorneys got on the bargaining table. My mother opened the door and envisioned FMLA in 1965. Her local members had a clause in their hiring paperwork that barred any leave during the school year. They had to quit at 6 months and petition for rehire.

After 20 years as union president my mother would go on to other offices and the union members had rights we take so much for granted today. 1965 the workers could not have any food at their desks, no beverages, there was no paid time off for any urgent sick needs, men could not be hired in many jobs including as clerk or secretary, women had to adhere to dress codes standards where they could be fired, paychecks were delivered only on Mondays after 5pm when shifts ended at 3pm and the banks closed at 5pm, there was no direct deposit, workers had to used approved supplies at their desks and there was no tolerance for having any personal pictures at work.

There is an old saying steady on the horse reins in the buggy race.

How could 100% telework really function without 2 sets of equipment?
LWOP can cover FMLA so really moms would have to sacrifice maternity leave?

Working 9 to 5, it is better than it was and not as great as it could be. Rock It Out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xxv_Fizvsw

Agree. I think it's politics ... it doesn't look good to the public to have empty government buildings. I'm not so sure the June 25th date will be pushed back now. It's more likely everyone will have to go back for a few weeks until people end up in the hospital and then they will evacuate again later!