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Washington, DC-Federal sector labor-management partnerships have made a significant difference in improving the work lives of federal employees and, in turn, their ability to deliver quality programs and services, according to an Office of Personnel Management (OPM) report submitted to President Clinton today.

National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Colleen M. Kelley said the report underscores the significant success of partnership over the past seven years. Moreover, she said, it is a strong endorsement for continuing partnership in the coming Bush administration.

"The report clearly demonstrates that partnership has created a meaningful alternative to the traditional adversarial approach that long dominated labor-management relations in the federal sector. The report documents that there have been significant gains in productivity and in the quality of the work lives and the work done by federal employees at agencies where partnerships are in place and working. The challenge now is to expand and strengthen partnerships throughout the federal government," said Kelley.

The OPM report highlights some of the partnership achievements of NTEU and its members working with various agencies, including:

- The unprecedented pre-decisional involvement of employees in the historic modernization effort at the IRS, perhaps the "most ambitious civilian reorganization in the history of the federal government." The IRS and NTEU recently received the prestigious John N. Sturdivant National Partnership Award in recognition of this achievement. The OPM report noted as well, "At the IRS, partnership is the fundamental strategy for coordinating and integrating the IRS business activities." Finally, OPM reported that the IRS's and NTEU's agreement on 7106(b)(1) issues, including the number and types of employees who would work in new business divisions was Acritical to the success@ of the modernization effort.

- The joint effort by NTEU and the Customs Service to strengthen drug interdiction, resulting in a 42 percent increase in illegal narcotics seized and a 74 percent increase in the amount of drug currency seized during the six-month initiative. A cost-benefit analysis of partnership by Booz-Allen found that each $1.00 Customs spent on partnership between 1994-1998 returned a benefit of roughly $1.20 to the agency.

- Following a recommendation of the HHS/NTEU Partnership Council, Secretary Donna Shalala and Deputy Secretary Kevin Thurm elected to negotiate over Section 7106 (b)(1) issues, so-called "permissive" subjects, such as number of employees assigned to a job, the way the job gets done, and the technology needed to do the job.

Kelley said that while the OPM report well documents that significant contributions of partnership it also outlines some important recommendations for improvements, including: a stronger commitment to partnership training and education; maintaining continuity in the face of change; greater focus on strategic planning; and, stronger and more visible leadership.

"The value of this report extends beyond the documentation of the success of partnership over the past seven years. It outlines some of the key steps that can be taken to expand and strengthen partnership throughout the federal government, and underscores the potential of partnership to make a meaningful and positive difference in the future," said Kelley.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing some 150,000 federal employees in 25 agencies and departments.