Partnership for Public Service plans AI training center for federal employees in 2025

October 2024, GovExec.com - The Partnership for Public Service plans to open a new center to help educate federal workers "from interns to executives" on the potential applications of artificial intelligence.

Dubbed the Center for Federal AI, and backed by a $10 million grant from Google’s philanthropic arm, the nonpartisan good government organization’s new technology hub will launch in March 2025 with the aim of educating federal employees on how to utilize AI, helping build up and retain the federal AI workforce and in general promoting the effective use of the technology by federal agencies. » read article

Council President Gaines Notifies Members of Congress and Local Government Leaders

August 27, 2024 - President Gaines instructed Council 222 Legislative/Political Committee Chair Erik Jetmir to notify members of Congress and local Government leaders of Fraud, Waste and Abuse IG Complaints in HUD NSPIRE Program. Here are the letters sent August 24, 2024 (no specific order):

Mayor Muriel Bowser
Senator Brian Schatz
Senator Gary Peters
Director Johana Ayers
Congressman James Comer
Congressman Tom Cole
Senator Patty Murray
USOSC Hamptom Dellinger
Hon Matthew Graves
Dominique Blom

HUD plans to give up 60% of its office space

August 19, 2024 , Federal News Network - The Biden administration says federal agencies are getting rid of office space they no longer need, and will shed millions of square feet in the coming years, now that many federal employees are on a hybrid schedule of in-office and work-from-home days.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development, as an extreme example, plans to eliminate up to 60% of its total office space footprint by 2038.

HUD plans to reduce space for its field office outside the Beltway, and consolidate four D.C. satellite offices into its downtown headquarters building.

“The reductions will achieve a more efficient utilization rate and reduce real estate spending, allowing us to redeploy funds to other higher impact needs,” the report states.

HUD occupies more than 4 million total square feet of space — which covers 80 leased buildings across the country, and four headquarters buildings. » read full article

HUD Ordered to Bargain with AFGE Over AI Use at Call Centers

UPDATE: August 20 - FLRA sends memo to HUD initiating compliance with the FLRA finding. Attached in the memo is the FLRA Notice to Employees which management must send to all employees.

July 22, 2024 - The Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) has ordered the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to return to the bargaining table with AFGE after the agency refused to bargain artificial intelligence (AI) data rights for nearly 600 bargaining unit employees at multiple Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Resource Call Centers.

HUD has been trying to implement AI within the call centers under a project called the FHA Resource Center IT Modernization. The agency sought to have employees train AI models that would eventually replicate their existing job functions. Per the GSA Centers of Excellence contract language for the call centers, this data would then be released into open-source public domain repositories for use by anyone accessing it.

Given FHA's status as the world’s largest insurer of mortgages, negotiations surrounding FHA’s Resource Call Centers directly influence employee working conditions and the availability of home financing options for Americans.

In 2021, HUD and the AFGE National Council of HUD Locals 222, which represents HUD employees nationwide, met to bargain over the changes in working conditions and reached an agreement on some proposals. But when the union requested additional information, including the statement of work, the agency denied the request, prompting the union to reach out to a mediator to help settle the issue. » Read Full Article at AFGE.org

222 President Vows To Work Towards Mutual Agreement and Reasonable Solutions

July 10, 2024 - Council 222 President Antonio Gaines e:alert to bargaining unit employees lists some of the actions the agency has taken to undermine our collective bargaining rights. President Gaines vows to continue to work towards mutual agreement and reasonable solutions. Read e:alert, go to E:alerts Page to view all alerts

On April 5, Council 222 submitted a national Grievance of the Parties to the Agency regarding the Agency's rescission of full telework flexibilities (Article 18 of HUD-AFGE Agreement, amended by Supplement 34). The Union has granted the Agency until May 12 to respond. During the week of April 23-25 Council 222 met with Agency leadership as part of our Labor Management Forum. We met with HQ leadership from various program areas. Specific hot button issues including reasonable accommodations, work from home flexibilities, artificial intelligence, Equal Employment Opportunity compliance, training gaps for managers, Anti-Harassment Branch, retention and other issues were addressed. Read more on these two topics in the e:alert we sent to our bargaining unit members May 1.

Council 222 Vows to Fight for Multifamily Staff

February 22, 2024 - The Agency is attempting to usurp our current Collective Bargaining Agreement, CBA/HUD-AFGE Agreement/the Contract (the CBA) and negotiated supplements by requiring Multifamily Bargaining Unit Employees (BUEs) to report to the office in-person four days a pay period. 222 contends the Agency's actions violate CBA, Supplement 34 as well as several Supplements negotiated during the pandemic. For more, read the e:alert to HUD bargaining Unit Employees from President Antonio Gaines.

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The Department of Labor June 2, 2006 Final Rule requires labor organizations subject to the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, the Foreign Service Act of 1980 and the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 to periodically inform their members of their rights as union members. The Final Rule will help ensure that federal union members are given basic understanding of 1) rights as union members; 2) responsibilities of union officers.

Civil Service Reform Act of 1878 (CSRA) - The standards of conduct provisions in this Act, among other statues, guarantee certain rights to members of unions representing Federal employees and impose certain responsibilities on officers of these unions.

Read about the CSRA| DOL 06/02/06 Federal Register Final Rule | DOL Fact Sheet | Council 222 Constitution/ByLaws | Foreign Service Act of 1980 | Congressional Accountability Act of 1995