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Season 3, Episode 71

Local seeks to amend National Guard requirement for some civil workers

LiUNA1776-2

 

Guest Name:


Ben Banch

Guest Website:


www.local1776.org

Guest Social Media:


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Supportive Documents:


Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA) Local 1776 Business Manager and Secretary-Treasurer Ben Banchs joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and discussed Dual Status Technicians — a class of civil employees required to maintain military membership in the National Guard as a condition of their civilian employment — and why this status should be changed to a Title 5 federal employee in order to safeguard workers’ rights.

Local 1776 represents federal employees of the National Guard in 10 states and the territory of Guam.

There are about 30,000 Dual Status Technicians in the federal government. Banchs explained the problem these individuals face is the potential loss of military employment. If they were to leave the National Guard, they would also lose their civilian position. For instance, if a person 60 years old is forced out of the military and does not have enough years on the job to qualify for retirement, they will not be able to keep their full-time government position because it depends on their military status. Local 1776 is pushing the federal government to get rid of Dual Status requirements and simply consider these employees regular federal civil servants, he said.

Banchs also talked about what it was like serving a union of federal public service employees during the Trump administration. During his presidency, Trump issued three executive orders, which Banchs described as horrible for federal unions. These orders renegotiated Collective Bargaining Agreements, hamstrung a unions’ ability to represent workers and encouraged federal agencies to abandon fairness concepts.

It was an indication federal bargaining rights are particularly flimsy and can be changed with the stroke of a pen, Banchs said. He hopes President Biden is able to implement rules to protect federal bargaining rights from future anti-union onslaughts.

Listen to the entire episode to learn more about these topics.


America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes-IBT, Boyd Watterson, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, Melwood, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

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