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Washington, D.C.-Robert M. Tobias, who is credited with turning the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) into the single most effective voice federal employees ever have had, today said he will not seek re-election as NTEU president. His present term-his fourth-expires in August.

Tobias, who will be 56 years old in August and who has been with NTEU and its predecessor organizations for 31 years, is widely respected throughout both government and the labor movement.

In a letter to NTEU chapter leaders around the country, Tobias wrote: "From my first day at NTEU, my goal has been to work with you to move us from helplessness and despair to dignity and respect; from being ignored to being recognized and included; and from acting alone to experiencing our power of collective action. We have come far."

As NTEU president, Tobias has been a leading proponent of federal sector labor-management partnership as the principal means of securing a voice for workers and of gaining for them the dignity and respect they deserve. He is a member of the National Partnership Council, among any number of other high-level bodies and commissions.

Tobias, a strong advocate of the use of litigation as a tool to advance and expand the interests of federal employees, led several landmark legal battles for federal employee rights -including a suit to overturn the Line Item Veto Act, a successful half-billion-dollar back pay suit against President Nixon, a federal court victory that gave federal workers the-right to engage in informational picketing and a Supreme Court win that overturned the ban on speaking and writing honoraria.

On the federal sector bargaining front, he is credited with such far-reaching gains as implementation of alternative work schedules and flexiplace work arrangements, among others. Prior to his election as president, Tobias, a lawyer who was at one time a labor relations specialist for both General Motors Corp. and the Internal Revenue Service, was NTEU's executive vice president and general counsel.

Tobias, who wants to write and teach, told NTEU chapter leaders that "the challenges of the future are even greater than the achievements of the past" and "it is time for a new NTEU national president." He called his tenure "a dream job."

NTEU National Executive Vice President Colleen M. Kelley said that Tobias's legacy will be felt "not just by today's federal employees, but by men and women who have yet to come to work for the federal government." Tobias, she said, "has been the driving force in an untold number of federal workplace improvements-perhaps most importantly, securing for federal workers the right and opportunity to be heard in meaningful ways on issues that affect not just their lives, but the lives of the public they serve."

Tobias holds both bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Michigan, and earned his law degree from George Washington University School of Law in Washington, D.C. NTEU represents more than 155,000 employees in 20 federal

agencies and departments.