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TFinalshot
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Natural resources jobs to stay in agencies
By EVE BYRON - Independent Record - 1/8/07
Consideration of outsourcing thousands of federal natural resources jobs is on hold due to a relatively unknown provision included in the recently passed 2008 Omnibus Appropriation Act.
Deep within that budget bill is a ban on additional activities directed toward outsourcing any Forest Service jobs, according to the non-profit group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
The legislation also severely limits outsourcing-related studies within the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, because it caps the amount the Department of Interior can spend on those studies at $3.5 million.
?Congress just put a bullet into the heart of the Bush administration?s strategy to commercialize resource management,? PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch said on Monday. ?The Forest Service language is for a flat-out ban, and the Interior Department language is close to a ban in that the federal government can barely buy a bathroom for $3.5 million.?
His group has campaigned since 2002 against the Competitive Sourcing Initiative, which had directed those federal agencies to put out to bid to private firms any federal job not classified as ?inherently governmental.?
?It was an ideologically driven program that said if competition didn't kill you, therefore it would make you stronger,? Ruch said. ?But it was incredibly disruptive to morale ... and they had to cannibalize their operations budgets in order to stage competitions, costing tens of millions of dollars.?
Ruch added that this is only a temporary ban, which will lapse unless a similar provision is put into the annual budget bill this fall. But since many of the faces in Congress will remain the same, he expects that to pass again.
?Congress begins consideration of its fiscal year 2009 budget next month, and we think we might get a similar ban,? Ruch said.
Spokesperson Amy Teegarden said the Helena National Forest currently has 146 permanent employees, along with another 138 temporary seasonal workers.
The Helena Forest last year reorganized its workforce, and although it didn't lay off anyone, some people took early retirements or buyouts, and others had to reapply for positions after some jobs were eliminated or duties were reconfigured. Teegarden said this wasn?t part of the Bush Administration?s outsourcing program.
However, many within the Forest Service ranks believed it was a precursor to streamlining the Helena-based federal agency under the outsourcing ? which the Forest Service prefers to call ?contracting out services? ? and Teegarden said they have participated in studies related to the Competitive Sourcing Initiative.
In particular, the Helena Forest was considering using private contractors for communication activities, environmental planning analysis, aviation and computer application development services.
Teegarden had heard about the effort to halt the outsourcing studies, but she didn't realize it had passed as part of the appropriations bill.
?It's my understanding that all of that will come to a halt now,? Teegarden said.
She noted that there was ?a lot of heartburn? within the agencies as to the amount of time and money being spent on the studies, as well as concerns by employees about whether their jobs would go to the private sector.
In particular, many employees were concerned they would end up as private contractors for a federal agency, doing the same job yet without health, vacation and other standard benefits.
Teegarden said another concern is losing relatively good-paying federal jobs in some of the smaller communities, like Lincoln and Townsend, which have national forest ranger stations based there.
?Forest Service employees in those towns are always involved in local activities, and these are good-paying jobs in small, rural communities,? Teegarden said. ?We wanted to make sure we maintained a presence there.?
Both Teegarden and Ruch added that there also were worries that the public employees? ?collateral duties? ? such jobs outside the normal scope as when a biologist would fight wildfires ? weren't given full consideration under the pressure to contract out work.
?When you contract out the main functions, you lose those collateral duties,? Ruch said.
Montana's senators - Max Baucus and John Tester, both Democrats - supported the provision. Rep. Denny Rehberg, a Republican, was traveling and couldn't be reached for comment.
Baucus spokesperson Sara Kuban said she believes the Forest Service needs to keep people on the ground.
"Having full-time Forest Service employees in places like Libby rather than contract laborers in California is just common sense," Kuban said. "It helps promote good relations between the Forest Service and the local communities."
She added that the senator also is concerned about the collateral duties, like firefighting, that could be lost if the Forest Service downsizes.
"We need to ensure that the federal agencies have sufficient numbers of employees to help fight wildfires on the ground where they are needed," Kuban said.
Tester, who has met with members of the Forest Service employees' union a few times during the past year, said forcing the Forest Service to outsource and privatize a set number of jobs is reckless and shortsighted.
"What we're doing is saying 'Whoa, hold on here, Mr. President," Tester said in a statement released late Monday by his office. "It jeopardizes our public lands and the folks we trust to protect them.?
Reporter Eve Byron: 447-4076 or [email protected]
By EVE BYRON - Independent Record - 1/8/07
Consideration of outsourcing thousands of federal natural resources jobs is on hold due to a relatively unknown provision included in the recently passed 2008 Omnibus Appropriation Act.
Deep within that budget bill is a ban on additional activities directed toward outsourcing any Forest Service jobs, according to the non-profit group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
The legislation also severely limits outsourcing-related studies within the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, because it caps the amount the Department of Interior can spend on those studies at $3.5 million.
?Congress just put a bullet into the heart of the Bush administration?s strategy to commercialize resource management,? PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch said on Monday. ?The Forest Service language is for a flat-out ban, and the Interior Department language is close to a ban in that the federal government can barely buy a bathroom for $3.5 million.?
His group has campaigned since 2002 against the Competitive Sourcing Initiative, which had directed those federal agencies to put out to bid to private firms any federal job not classified as ?inherently governmental.?
?It was an ideologically driven program that said if competition didn't kill you, therefore it would make you stronger,? Ruch said. ?But it was incredibly disruptive to morale ... and they had to cannibalize their operations budgets in order to stage competitions, costing tens of millions of dollars.?
Ruch added that this is only a temporary ban, which will lapse unless a similar provision is put into the annual budget bill this fall. But since many of the faces in Congress will remain the same, he expects that to pass again.
?Congress begins consideration of its fiscal year 2009 budget next month, and we think we might get a similar ban,? Ruch said.
Spokesperson Amy Teegarden said the Helena National Forest currently has 146 permanent employees, along with another 138 temporary seasonal workers.
The Helena Forest last year reorganized its workforce, and although it didn't lay off anyone, some people took early retirements or buyouts, and others had to reapply for positions after some jobs were eliminated or duties were reconfigured. Teegarden said this wasn?t part of the Bush Administration?s outsourcing program.
However, many within the Forest Service ranks believed it was a precursor to streamlining the Helena-based federal agency under the outsourcing ? which the Forest Service prefers to call ?contracting out services? ? and Teegarden said they have participated in studies related to the Competitive Sourcing Initiative.
In particular, the Helena Forest was considering using private contractors for communication activities, environmental planning analysis, aviation and computer application development services.
Teegarden had heard about the effort to halt the outsourcing studies, but she didn't realize it had passed as part of the appropriations bill.
?It's my understanding that all of that will come to a halt now,? Teegarden said.
She noted that there was ?a lot of heartburn? within the agencies as to the amount of time and money being spent on the studies, as well as concerns by employees about whether their jobs would go to the private sector.
In particular, many employees were concerned they would end up as private contractors for a federal agency, doing the same job yet without health, vacation and other standard benefits.
Teegarden said another concern is losing relatively good-paying federal jobs in some of the smaller communities, like Lincoln and Townsend, which have national forest ranger stations based there.
?Forest Service employees in those towns are always involved in local activities, and these are good-paying jobs in small, rural communities,? Teegarden said. ?We wanted to make sure we maintained a presence there.?
Both Teegarden and Ruch added that there also were worries that the public employees? ?collateral duties? ? such jobs outside the normal scope as when a biologist would fight wildfires ? weren't given full consideration under the pressure to contract out work.
?When you contract out the main functions, you lose those collateral duties,? Ruch said.
Montana's senators - Max Baucus and John Tester, both Democrats - supported the provision. Rep. Denny Rehberg, a Republican, was traveling and couldn't be reached for comment.
Baucus spokesperson Sara Kuban said she believes the Forest Service needs to keep people on the ground.
"Having full-time Forest Service employees in places like Libby rather than contract laborers in California is just common sense," Kuban said. "It helps promote good relations between the Forest Service and the local communities."
She added that the senator also is concerned about the collateral duties, like firefighting, that could be lost if the Forest Service downsizes.
"We need to ensure that the federal agencies have sufficient numbers of employees to help fight wildfires on the ground where they are needed," Kuban said.
Tester, who has met with members of the Forest Service employees' union a few times during the past year, said forcing the Forest Service to outsource and privatize a set number of jobs is reckless and shortsighted.
"What we're doing is saying 'Whoa, hold on here, Mr. President," Tester said in a statement released late Monday by his office. "It jeopardizes our public lands and the folks we trust to protect them.?
Reporter Eve Byron: 447-4076 or [email protected]
