Lawmaker questions Labor transit subsidy dispute

Rep. James Moran, D-Va., has asked the General Accounting Office to look into a nearly two-year long tussle between the Labor Department and a union over increasing the transit subsidy for some federal employees.

A Clinton-era executive order required agencies to offer transit subsidies to employees in the Washington metropolitan area beginning in October 2000. When the order was first implemented, the maximum amount employees could receive was $65 a month, but in January 2002 the ceiling was raised to $100 a month.

Members of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 12, which represents Labor Department employees in the Washington area, have argued since the transit subsidy was increased that they should have automatically received the increase. Labor officials said they would address the issue during negotiations with the union for a new collective bargaining agreement. After several starts and stops, a ruling by the Federal Labor Relations Authority, two protest marches by the union and a ruling by the Federal Service Impasses Panel, the two are scheduled to start negotiations on Oct. 7.

However, in a Sept. 15 letter to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, Moran questioned the decision to withhold the increase from those bargaining unit employees.

"The executive order made no distinction between union and nonunion employees," Moran wrote. "To treat bargaining unit employees of the Department of Labor differently is neither fair nor appropriate, particularly for the department established by the law to uphold and protect America's workers."

The legislator also sent a letter to GAO asking for an examination of the transit subsidy issue at the Labor Department, as well as an overall view of "which agencies pay their employees transit benefits, in what amount, and whether the agencies distinguish between employees who are covered by collective bargaining units and those who are not covered."

Patrick Pizzella, assistant secretary of Labor for administration and management, declined to discuss the issue because of the pending negotiations, but Larry Drake, president of Local 12, said he welcomed Moran's efforts on the union's behalf.

On Thursday, the House Government Reform Committee approved legislation (H.R. 1511) offered by Moran that would make the transit benefit a law for all federal employees. The president can rescind executive orders at any time.

"I have long sought to maintain parity in salaries and benefits for all federal workers," Moran said. "This legislation restores parity for transit benefits among employees in all branches of the federal government."