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Washington, D.C.— The leader of the nation’s largest independent union of federal workers today offered strong support for legislative language threatening substantial financial penalties against some federal agencies that are lagging in their efforts to put telework programs in place.

National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Colleen M. Kelley, who has long advocated far-reaching telework opportunities in the federal workplace, also applauded the continuing efforts on this issue of Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), chairman of the House Commerce-Justice-State Appropriations Subcommittee.

Kelley described the potential $5 million or five percent cut in budgets called for in the omnibus appropriations bill as “the stick that might finally push these agencies to get this job done,” including at two NTEU-represented agencies affected by the language—the Justice Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), where management commitment to the program has been open to question.

The ‘stick’ Kelley was referring to is language in the omnibus bill, advanced by Rep. Wolf and supported by NTEU, which would penalize a number of agencies for their failure to make telework

opportunities available to 100 percent of their eligible workforce. Wolf, who is from northern Virginia, is the leading congressional proponent of federal telework programs.

Teleworking allows employees to work off-site, either at home or in a designated telework center, on various schedules, including both full- and part-time, as well as on a project basis. In 2001, Congress approved legislation requiring executive agencies to establish policies for telework eligibility and to work to remove barriers to full and successful implementation of the program.

However, that hasn’t occurred as expected and hoped. In congressional testimony earlier this year, President Kelley blamed the lag in this important program on the lack of managerial commitment and leadership to the idea.

At the same time, some agencies have worked collaboratively with NTEU to establish effective telework programs, Kelley said, citing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Trademark Division of the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and most recently the Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) of the Department of Treasury. These programs, she said, could serve as models for other agencies.

As the largest independent federal union, NTEU represents some 150,000 employees in 30 agencies and departments.