In November 2001 Local members overwhelmingly voted to accept the new National Agreement. Thank you for your earnest support and your continuing faith in the leadership of AFGE Council 260.

Your new contract was distributed the week of March 25, to bargaining unit members and managers by the agency with assistance from Local 2578 members. If you did not receive a printed copy, contact the union office at Archives II or Carol Wehrkamp by email or at 301-713-6760x266. Provide your name, mail code, facility, and room number. The contract is also available on the NARA Staffonly site at

The new contract became effective April 1, 2002, and will remain in effect until at least March 31, 2007. Thus, the national agreement between management and the bargaining unit will be ours to abide by for the next 5 years. Your executive board and Council representatives encourage you to study the contract … know your rights and obligations!

Obligations go both ways. We are obligated, among many other things, to respectfully follow orders, to request leave in advance when possible, to follow set core hours, to report deficiencies in health and safety, and to abide by NARA policy. In return, management is obliged to respect our views, to provide us with reasonable accommodation, to provide a safe working environment, and to clearly define our performance standards and measures. When both parties abide by the rules outlined in the contract, the National Archives becomes a safer, stronger, and better place to work. Please take the time to read the contract and ask questions. Your representatives are available to help you with the answers.

The new contract includes a number of provisions, the implications of which may not be readily apparent to bargaining unit employees. Over the coming months, this column will highlight some of these protective provisions.

This first highlight focuses on Article 3, Section 4(B). That section reads as follows:

In other words, if Manager Smith comes to Archives Technician Jane on Monday and says "Jane, I need you to drop everything and work on this special RG 257 project. I need this tomorrow!" Jane has the right to reply to Ms. Smith "You realize that last Thursday you assigned the RG 29 project to me and told me it too needed to be finished tomorrow. I may not be able to complete both before tomorrow. As instructed, I will cease working on the RG 29 project and get at the RG 257 project right away!"

As you can see, the contract now includes a built-in protection for you. The above language can protect against a later reprimand or poor performance evaluation, based solely on your inability to complete an initial project on a timely basis, because of changing management priorities. Obviously, other factors will weigh into the final evaluation, but this protective clause should help to improve communication regarding priorities and build greater respect between employees and managers.

At the March 26, 2002, monthly meeting of Local 2578, Chief Shop Steward John Powers proudly reported that the NW Upward Mobility Team has outlined a voluntary program that will provide for greater upward mobility opportunities for all interested NW archives technicians. Specifically, current plans are to have a training and certification program to assist archives technicians in obtaining credentials and gaining work experience to qualify for higher graded archives specialist positions across NW. NW is currently anticipating 20 or more of these positions will become available in the near future. To help interested technicians, NW plans to offer writing classes for KSAOs as well as the certificate training program. Powers anticipates final Union approval this month. The Certificate program should be up and running in June. If you are interested in learning more about the program, contact John Powers via e-mail (john.powers@nara.gov).

The AFGE web site provides details on the benefits available to union members. Please visit the Members Only section of the AFGE web site at http://www.afge.org to learn more. Members who have not accessed the Members Only section of the AFGE web site recently will have to register a username and password.

Benefits of membership include the Family Savers Program; Union Plus Credit Card; Credit Builders Program; Legal Services; Mortgage and Real Estate Program; Loan Program; College Financing Information/Scholarships; Health Savings Program; Auto Buying Service; Accident Insurance; Discount Dental; Life Insurance Protection; and Discount Online Training.

Monthly meetings of AFGE Local 2578 are held the last Tuesday of every month at 12:00 in room 5220 of Archives II with teleconference connection to room 503, Archives I. The next scheduled meeting of the Local is Tuesday April 30, 2002. For members, come find out the latest in Local activities. For those interested in joining, membership forms are available at every meeting!