"Tackling the obstacles threatening quality public services is going to be difficult in this environment, but that is what has to happen if we are going to address the real needs of our communities across the country."

With the budget crisis deepening at all levels of government, it is difficult for policymakers to think beyond the bottom line. In 2002, across-the-board budget cuts, passage of early retirement incentives and abbreviated furloughs were just a few of the measures used by politicians to balance budgets.

"I know there are even tougher measures ahead," says Jim McGarvey, AFT vice president and chair of the AFT Public Employees program and policy council. "Tackling the obstacles threatening quality public services is going to be difficult in this environment, but that is what has to happen if we are going to address the real needs of our communities across the country."

AFT Public Employees has identified two major issues that must be broached, despite fiscal problems, which are central to quality public services into the future. The first is recruitment and retention of a qualified public sector work force. The second is e-government and how technology is changing the public sector workplace.

AFT Public Employees recently released two reports that address recruitment, retention and technology. Both reports provide a framework for union affiliates to follow as these issues are brought before policymakers and agency officials. The reports are the work of two AFT Public Employees task forces, made up of members and staff from affiliates across the country who brought their experiences and expertise to the table. Both task forces were established by the AFT Public Employees program and policy council. All participants concluded that these issues are central to the lives of the union's members.
 

Digital Government and Technological Change

The level of change introduced into the American workplace by technology over the past 20 years has led some observers to conclude that those changes are second in scope only to the changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution.

On the surface, technology has changed the way government interacts with citizens. But behind that interaction are public employees who have wide-ranging concerns about technology and their jobs. Privacy, health and safety, and quality of work life are among these concerns--all subjects the AFT Public Employees Digital Government Task Force addressed in its report, Digital Government and Technological Change: The Impact on Public Employees and Quality Public Services.

"In reality, every union member is going to be affected by the computer--whether you are on it eight hours a day or one hour a week or whether things you need to access are on it," says task force member Gerry Nies, a member of the North Dakota Public Employees Association. "Technology is here and we need to help our [members] understand that it is critical for them to be ready to use it and use it to their benefit."

Nies, who works at the University of North Dakota in disability support services, is speaking from firsthand experience. The state is rolling out a statewide computer system, making it increasingly critical that all employees have proper training on the new system. Ensuring that the state provides sufficient training is a responsibility that falls to the union. But Nies notes that employees have a responsibility, too--and that is to let the union know their job-related concerns. "If something is starting to influence your life at work, you should go to the union," he says.

The task force identified four topics related to technological innovation that are of primary interest to their respective members. They are: work force training; employee privacy and security; health and safety; and telework and other workload issues.

On training -- The union is committed to advancing the professional interests of its members by working with employers to improve opportunities for skills development and professional training.

On privacy and security -- The union is committed to making sure security precautions do not jeopardize employee privacy rights. While new biometric security measures and the monitoring of employee workplace activities, including e-mail and Internet use, creates challenges for AFT Public Employees affiliates, the union can move to enhance security precautions while protecting personal privacy by working with management on security and privacy policies.

On health and safety -- The task force concluded that AFT Public Employees and its affiliated unions must develop expertise to address member concerns. Among the health and safety issues related directly to increased dependence on personal computers and other technology are reductions in indoor air quality, increases in carpal tunnel syndrome and eyesight damage.

On telework and other workload issues -- Telework is a work arrangement the task force wants AFT Public Employees affiliates to expand and formalize through cooperative labor-management programs and collective bargaining. Such arrangements, made possible with the advent of technology, provide needed flexibility, enabling employees to better balance work and personal life demands.

The bottom line in all areas is that labor and management will have to work together to address the issues.
 

Recruitment and Retention

Before the current budget crisis, recruitment and retention of qualified workers was a growing concern in the public sector. Challenged by salary schedules that did not allow governments to compete with the private sector for workers, governments were scrambling to fill a host of professional positions and being creative in their efforts.

In Kansas, for example, state government spent $17 million over three years for "bonuses" to retain and attract engineers and information technology professionals, says task force member Betty Vines, president of the Kansas Association of Public Employees and a member of the AFT Public Employees program and policy council.  But the money for those bonuses has been eliminated, she says, as the state contends with a $200 million-plus shortfall for the current fiscal year and a projected $800 million deficit for the coming fiscal year, which starts July 1, 2003.

When the AFT Public Employees Recruitment and Retention Task Force first met over two years ago to discuss staffing issues in the public sector, demographics was the most daunting challenge. Forty-five percent of 16 million-plus people working in government would be eligible to retire in the next five to 10 years; and the pool of U.S. workers between the ages of 25 and 44 would drop 3 million by 2008.

Demographics is no longer the sole challenge, though. Tax giveaways, raids on public reserves and the economic landslide have systematically drained vital resources, leaving governments struggling to provide services and fill budget gaps, according to the task force's latest report, Taking Action Against the Quiet Crisis in Recruitment and Retention.

The report maintains that the impending retirements will be exacerbated by early retirement programs and cutbacks forced by state legislatures, county councils, the U.S. Congress and other policymakers.

"Public safety, job growth, care for those less able, protections for our air, water and environment, scientific advancement, medical assistance and thousands of other services that nourish and enrich our society will be handicapped by the recruitment and retention problem facing government service in our nation," says the report.

"States can't ignore this crisis any longer," says Jim McGarvey. "In fewer than 10 years, states will lose their best employees while the supply of people interested in these jobs runs dry."

Unions cannot ignore the crisis, either, according to task force member Art Foeste, chair of the Wisconsin State Employees Council and a member of the AFT Public Employees program and policy council. "Recruitment and retention is as much a union issue as it is a management issue," he says, "because the people recruited to work in the public sector are going to be our union members.

The union needs to be about the future--knowing where you are at is one thing, but knowing where you need to be in the future is totally different."

One responsibility of the union, according to the task force report, is to understand demographics and the key generational differences in work style so that recruitment and retention plans unions design target all generations.