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Washington, D.C.—The leader of the nation’s largest independent union of federal employees today applauded the call of President Obama in his weekly radio address for suggestions from members of the federal workforce on ways to make government more effective and efficient.

“I’m delighted to see the president recognize that the best ideas come from the expertise of federal workers,” said President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU).

“This certainly is a welcome change from the previous administration, where employee ideas were ignored and their expertise largely untapped,” she added. “Federal employees are eager to work with the administration to improve the delivery of their agencies’ services to the public.”

The NTEU leader also welcomed President Obama’s attention to what she called “creative incentives” such as allowing agencies to keep a portion of any savings to invest, rather than tying them to spending cuts.

“The emphasis must be on doing the work better, not simply on cutting costs,” she said. “Given the serious declines in staffing levels at many agencies over the past eight years, there is a clear need not only to rebuild, but to refocus on their core missions. That is the way to do the work better and more efficiently.”

Along with welcoming attention to this vital subject, President Kelley said the most productive avenue for an exchange of ideas involving frontline federal workers is a return to a form of the labor-management partnership that successfully led to improvements in the delivery of services.

“The partnership initiative in place in federal agencies between 1993 and 2000 provided venues for the exchange of ideas among employees and their managers in a collaborative atmosphere,” President Kelley said.

NTEU included a return to partnership among its recommendations to the incoming administration, suggesting it be done either administratively or legislatively. Kelley took as a positive sign the interest expressed in a renewal of some form of partnership by OPM Director John Berry during their recent meeting.

As the largest independent federal union, NTEU represents some 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments.