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Washington, D.C.?President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) said today the union supports reducing costly attrition among Internal Revenue Service Office of Chief Counsel attorneys by providing them retention allowances and bonuses to help them pay law school debts. In a letter to IRS Chief Counsel Stuart Brown, Kelley said NTEU "looks forward to working with management to achieve that end."

She also strongly urged the IRS to extend provisions of NTEU's contract covering Chief Counsel employees in Washington to attorneys and support staff in that division's field offices nationwide, calling it "an important first step" in helping meet the goal of reduced attrition.

NTEU has long represented attorneys in the agency's Washington Office of Chief Counsel. In March, 1999, NTEU became the collective bargaining representative for some 1,200 Chief Counsel employees, including more than 700 attorneys and nearly 500 men and women who work in support roles, in offices nationwide. The attorneys in these offices litigate tax cases on behalf of the government.

Over the past few months, the union has been engaged in discussions with Chief Counsel in an attempt to include District and Regional Counsel offices under an existing collective bargaining agreement.

Including field employees "immediately" under contract coverage, Kelley said in her letter to Brown, "would help the parties address issues of attrition and employee satisfaction," as well as improve the quality of their work lives by providing flexible alternative work schedules and fair performance appraisals. She said a planned meeting in June would be "an excellent opportunity to announce such a welcome development."

The NTEU president pointed to recent media articles on the government's difficulties in retaining attorneys due to intense competition from the private sector, noting that the federal sector attrition rate has doubled in just a few years despite what was described as "unprecedented efforts" throughout government to prevent such turnover.

"We are certain that you join with us in recognizing the high?caliber professional workforce currently employed by the Office of Chief Counsel," Kelley said in her letter. "It is NTEU's goal to work with Counsel to improve conditions of employment so as to retain its highly?qualified legal staff."

In addition to extending contract coverage to Counsel field office employees, she called on Brown to work with NTEU to ensure that retention allowances and bonuses permitted under federal rules designed to help retain certain groups of employees would be awarded equitably, with all bargaining unit attorneys deemed eligible for financial incentives.

Some agencies, including the military services, have used authority granted by Congress to provide up to $6,000 per year?to a maximum of $40,000?to enable staff attorneys to pay off student debts; the ability to pay these debts using higher private sector salaries often is cited by young government attorneys leaving federal service, Kelley said.