United States General Accounting Office

GAO Testimony

Before the Subcommittee on Social Security, Committee

on Ways and Means, House of Representatives

For Release on Delivery

Expected at 2:00 p.m.

Tuesday, June 4, 1996

SOCIAL SECURITY

Union Activity at the Social

Security Administration

Statement of Jane L. Ross, Director

Income Security Issues

Health, Education, and Human Services Division

G O A

years

1921 - 1996

GAO/T-HEHS-96-150

Social Security: Union Activity at the Social

Security Administration

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee:

I am pleased to be here today to discuss the time spent on union activities

at the Social Security Administration (SSA). Union activities generally

include representing employees in complaints against management,

bargaining over changes in working conditions and the application of

personnel policies, and negotiating union contracts with management. The

federal government pays its employees’ salaries and expenses for the

portion of time they are allowed to spend on union activities; it also

provides other support, such as space, supplies, equipment, and some

travel expenses.1

 Federal union members generally cannot bargain over

wages and cannot strike, and federal employees are not required to join

unions and pay union dues in order to be represented by the union.

Given the budget constraints facing federal agencies, the Subcommittee

expressed concern about the amount of time and expenses devoted to

union activities and paid for by the federal government. The Subcommittee

expressed particular concern about SSA unions regarding the amount of

money paid for union activities out of the Social Security trust funds.

As requested, I will focus my remarks on the history of union involvement

in the federal government, the statutory basis for the federal government

to pay employee salaries and expenses for union activities, and the

amount of time spent on and costs associated with union activities at SSA

and how the agency accounts for it. The Subcommittee also asked us to

comment on how the amount of time and money spent at SSA on union

activities compares with what is spent at other large federal agencies, such

as the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Internal Revenue

Service (IRS), and how it compares with the amount spent by the U.S.

Postal Service, which operates more like a private-sector company. As

requested, we have also provided information on union activities in the

private sector.

In response to your request, we began our work at SSA in August 1995. To

develop this information, we interviewed management and union officials

in SSA headquarters and 4 of SSA’s 10 regional offices. We also reviewed

union contracts, payroll records, and time-reporting forms. To determine

the amount of time spent on union activities, we reviewed yearly reports

of time spent on union activities and verified the time reported by

1

The U.S. Postal Service generally does not pay the salaries and expenses of full-time union

representatives. Instead, salaries and expenses are covered by union dues. The Postal Services does,

however, pay for the time spent on union activities by some part-time union representatives and for

union-occupied space in postal facilities.

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Social Security: Union Activity at the Social

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reviewing source documents at one region and selected headquarters

components. We supplemented our fieldwork with telephone calls to three

additional SSA regions to verify that similar time reporting procedures were

used.

We also met with union and management officials at VA, IRS, and the Postal

Service to compare their union time and costs with SSA’s. VA does not

operate a national union time-reporting system and therefore could not

provide data on union activities. Consequently, we are not providing any

information concerning VA. At IRS and the Postal Service, we obtained

available information on union activity from headquarters and selected

field facilities but did not verify its accuracy. We also discussed the role

and function of unions in the federal government with the Office of

Personnel Management and discussed the private-sector use of official

time for union activities with labor-relations experts at various trade

associations, colleges, and universities. We also reviewed a 1992 Bureau of

National Affairs (BNA) publication that summarized trends in

labor/management contracts for private industry. Finally, to determine the

types of contract provisions that exist in private industry with regard to

the use of official time, we reviewed 10 contracts on file at the Bureau of

Labor Statistics.

In summary, federal labor/management relations were formalized by

executive order in the early 1960s.2

 In 1962, an executive order permitted

federal agencies to grant official time for certain meetings between

management and union representatives, at the discretion of the agency.

The management control prevalent when the first executive order was

issued has evolved over time, and today unions operating at federal

government agencies have significant involvement in operational and

management decisions. The use of official time, which is authorized paid

time off from assigned duties for union activities, has become a routine

method of union operation in the federal government. Office of Personnel

Management officials told us that currently no governmentwide

requirement exists to capture or report the amount of official time charged

to union activities. They further noted that managers and employees

would spend time interacting on personnel and working condition matters

even if there were no unions operating at agencies.

We determined that over the last 6 years, the time spent on union activities

at SSA has grown from 254,000 to at least 413,000 hours, at a cost to SSA’s

2

Postal labor/management relations are governed by the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, which

incorporates many provisions of the National Labor Relations Act.

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Social Security: Union Activity at the Social

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trust funds of $12.6 million in 1995 alone. That is, SSA currently pays the

equivalent of the salaries and expenses of about 200 SSA employees to

represent the interests of the approximately 52,000 employees represented

by unions at SSA. This cost represents a portion of the $5.5 billion SSA

incurred in administrative expenses for fiscal year 1995.

In addition, SSA has reported to the Congress that the number of full-time

union representatives, those devoting 75 percent or more of their time to

union activities, grew from 80 to 145 between 1993 and 1995. We found,

however, that the reporting system for collecting such data does not

adequately track the number of union representatives charging time to

union activities or the actual time spent. Consequently, we conducted a

limited verification of the hours spent on union activities reported by SSA

and found that time spent on union activities was underreported. While SSA

is currently developing a new system to more accurately track the time

spent on union activities, it plans to implement this system to replace only

the automated reporting system for union representatives in the field

offices and teleservice centers. SSA is not planning to improve the less

accurate manual time-reporting system for its other components.

Under the terms of the current SSA union contract negotiated in 1993, the

selection of union representatives and the amount of time they spend on

union activities are determined by the union, without the consent of local

managers. We found that over 1,800 designated union representatives in

SSA are authorized to spend time on union activities, although most of the

time spent is by SSA’s 146 full-time representatives. Some SSA field

managers told us that their having no involvement in decisions about how

much time is spent by individuals and who the individuals are causes

problems in managing the day-to-day activities of their operations. Union

representatives, on the other hand, told us that the time they use is

necessary to fully represent the interests of their coworkers.

SSA reported that it paid for 404,000 hours for union activities in fiscal year

1995, as compared with 442,000 hours reported by IRS in fiscal year 1994,

the most recent information available. The Postal Service reported that

1.7 million hours spent on union activities in fiscal year 1995 related to

grievances. This Postal Service estimate does not include substantial

additional time spent on other types of union activities and paid for by

either the unions or the Postal Service.

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With regard to union activity in private industry, some employers pay

some or all of the salaries and expenses of union representatives, as the

federal government does, while others do not.

Background Labor unions are groups of employees organized to bargain with

employers over such issues as wages, hours, benefits, and working

conditions. The current federal labor/management program differs from

nonfederal programs in three important ways: (1) federal unions bargain

on a limited number of issues—bargaining over pay and other economic

benefits is generally prohibited,3

 (2) strikes and lockouts are prohibited,

and (3) federal employees cannot be compelled to join, or pay dues to, the

unions that represent them. At SSA, employees are represented by three

unions: the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which

represents over 95 percent of SSA employees who are represented by a

union; the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU); and the National

Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE). Of SSA’s 65,000 employees, about

52,000 nonsupervisory employees are represented by the unions, and

about 47 percent of those represented are dues-paying union members.

Union operations at SSA are governed by a national AFGE contract and six

other union contracts with individual NTEU and NFFE components.

At the other federal organizations we visited, five unions had national

collective bargaining agreements—four at the Postal Service and one at

IRS. There were 751,000 employees represented by unions at the Postal

Service and 97,000 at IRS. Although other unions without national

collective bargaining agreements represented Postal Service employees,

the number of employees represented by these unions is less than

1 percent of all represented employees.

There are two main categories of official time, or government paid time

spent on union activities, at SSA. The category known as “bank time” in

field offices, and equivalent categories of official time in other

components, refers to time that is negotiated and limited by SSA contracts

with its unions. Bank time includes time spent on union- or

employee-initiated grievances (complaints regarding any matter related to

employment) as well as on union-initiated activities, such as training or

representational duties. The category known as “nonbank time” in field

offices, and equivalent categories in other components, generally refers to

time spent on management-initiated activities; bargaining over changes to

work assignments and working conditions (such as disallowed leave,

3

Postal unions, however, can bargain over wages and other economic benefits.

Page 4 GAO/T-HEHS-96-150
Social Security: Union Activity at the Social

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employee work space, and equipment); management-initiated grievances;

and any other time not specifically designated as bank time.

History of Union

Activity in the Federal

Government

In 1912, the Lloyd-LaFollette Act established the right of postal employees

to join a union and set a precedent for other federal employees to join

unions. The government did little to provide agencies with guidance on

labor relations until the early 1960s.

In 1962, President Kennedy issued Executive Order 10988, establishing in

the executive branch a framework for federal agencies to bargain with

unions over working conditions and personnel practices. The order

established a decentralized labor/management program under which each

agency had discretion in interpreting the order, deciding individual agency

policy, and settling its own contract disputes and grievances.

In 1969, President Nixon issued Executive Order 11491, which established

a process for resolving labor disputes in the executive branch by forming

the Federal Labor Relations Council to prescribe regulations and arbitrate

grievances. This order clarified language to expressly permit bargaining on

operational issues for employees adversely affected by organizational

realignments or technological changes.

In 1970, the Postal Reorganization Act brought postal labor relations under

a structure similar to that applicable to companies in the private sector.

Collective bargaining for wages, hours, and working conditions was

authorized subject to regulation by the National Labor Relations Board.

Like other federal employees, postal employees could not be compelled to

join or pay dues to a union and could not strike.

The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 provided a statutory basis for the

current federal labor/management relations program and set up an

independent body, the Federal Labor Relations Authority, to administer

the program. The act expanded the scope of collective bargaining—the

process under which union representatives and management bargain over

working conditions—to allow routine negotiation of some operational

issues, such as the use of technology and the means for conducting agency

operations.

In 1993, President Clinton issued Executive Order 12871, which articulated

a new vision of labor/management relations, called “Partnership.”

Partnership required agencies to involve labor organizations as full

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Social Security: Union Activity at the Social

Security Administration

partners with management in identifying problems and crafting solutions

to better fulfill the agency mission. It also expanded the scope of

bargainable issues. This new arrangement was intended to end the

sometimes adversarial relationship between federal unions and

management and to help facilitate implementation of National

Performance Review initiatives, which were intended to improve public

service and reduce the cost of government.

Basis for Paying

Salaries of Union

Representatives

In 1962, Executive Order 10988 permitted federal agencies to grant official

time, which is authorized paid time off from assigned government duties,

for meetings between management and union representatives for contract

negotiation, at the discretion of the agency. In 1971, Executive Order 11491

was amended to prohibit the use of official time for contract negotiation

unless the agency and union agreed to certain arrangements. Specifically,

the agency could authorize either (1) up to 40 hours of official time for

negotiation during regular working hours or (2) up to one-half the time

actually spent in negotiations. Over the next 4 years, a series of Federal

Labor Relations Council decisions and regulations continued to liberalize

the use of official time by allowing negotiations for the use of official time

for other purposes.

The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 authorized official time for federal

agency union representatives in negotiating a collective bargaining

agreement.4

 The act also permitted agencies and unions to negotiate

whether union representatives would be granted official time in

connection with other labor/management activities, as long as the official

time was deemed reasonable, necessary, and in the public interest. The act

continued to permit agencies to provide unions with routine services and

facilities at agency expense. The act prohibited the use of official time for

internal union business, such as solicitation of members.

Time Spent on and

Cost of Union

Activities at SSA

SSA has a national system for reporting time spent on union activities by

union representatives. This system is separate from the agency’s time and

attendance and workload reporting systems. Under this system, union

representatives generally fill out and submit forms to their supervisors to

account for union time. The hours reported on these forms are then

periodically aggregated and submitted to SSA headquarters for totaling.

This time-reporting system consists of two component systems that cover

4

The Postal Service is not governed by this act. The basis for paying certain union representatives for

specified union activities at the Postal Service is contained in union contracts. Contract negotiations

are carried out at union expense.

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roughly an equal number of employees. The first is an automated system

that captures time reported by union representatives working in field

offices, which are the primary point of public contact with SSA, and at

teleservice centers, where calls to SSA’s national 800 number are answered.

The second component is a manual system used to capture time spent by

union representatives at SSA headquarters, as well as at Program Service

Centers, the Office of Hearings and Appeals, and other components.

Neither system is designed to capture either time spent by management on

union-related matters or the number or names of individuals charging

union time.

We conducted a limited verification of time captured in SSA’s national

reporting system at one SSA region and several headquarters components.

By tracing source documents for union representatives’ time to reported

totals in the system, we discovered additional time not captured by the

two systems. These gaps occurred primarily in the manual system and

resulted from inaccurate reporting from the source documents,

overlooked reports for some union representatives, and uncounted reports

for some organizational units during certain reporting periods. We also

verified that similar procedures were being used at three other regions,

which could result in similar underreporting at these locations. Figure 1

shows the total time spent at SSA on union activities, including the

additional time we discovered.

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Figure 1: Total Time Spent on Union Activities at SSA, 1990-95

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995

0

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

254,000 269,000 274,000

323,000

343,000

413,000

Calendar Year

Hours

Bank/Union-Initiated Grievances Nonbank/Other Activities

Source: SSA national time reports and results of GAO verification.

The overall time spent on union activities has grown steadily from 254,000

hours in 1990 to over 413,000 in 1995. This is the equivalent of paying the

salaries and other expenses of about 200 SSA employees to represent the

52,000 employees in the bargaining unit in 1995. Figure 2 shows the

difference between SSA’s national time reports and our estimated time. SSA

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reported 254,000 hours of official time devoted to union activities in 1990,

269,000 in 1991, 272,000 in 1992, 314,000 in 1993, 297,000 in 1994, and

404,000 in 1995.

Figure 2: Time Spent on Union Activities by SSA Employees, 1990-95

16

$6.2 M

1990

$6.3 M $6.2 M $6 M

$9.1 M

$11 M

$12.6 M

14

12

10

8

4

6

Millions of Dollars

SSA-Estimated Expenditures

1991

Fiscal Year

1992 1993 1994 1995

GAO-Estimated Expenditures

Note: GAO’s verification of time charges was focused on 1995. Some additional unreported time

was discovered in several of the earlier years.

Source: SSA national time reports and results of GAO verification.

Because of limitations in SSA’s reporting system, it is not possible to

estimate actual time spent agencywide for any reporting period. Although

it is likely that the actual time spent agencywide exceeds our estimates,

our verification sample was not large enough to be statistically valid, so it

cannot be extrapolated to all of SSA.

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To determine what contributed to the increase in time spent on union

activities, we developed information on the categories of time used. Figure

3 shows that bank time has remained relatively constant between 1990 and

1995, and that most of the increase in time spent on union activities during

this period is attributable to nonbank time—mainly for bargaining

activities.

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Figure 3: SSA-Reported Official Time by Activity, 1990-95

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

0 100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 500,000

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Nonbank/Bargaining

Note: This chart does not include additional unreported hours found by GAO.

Source: SSA national time reports.

Figures 4 and 5 show that the number of other nonbank activities, such as

unfair labor practices cases and arbitration cases (nonbank in the hearing

stage), that result from unsettled grievances, has declined in recent years.

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Figure 4: Number of Unfair Labor Practices Cases at SSA, 1990-95

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

397

263

370

391

299

209

Calendar Year

Number of Cases

Source: SSA Office of Labor Management Relations.

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Figure 5: Number of SSA Arbitration Hearings, 1990-95

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995

30

40

50

60

70

80

53

47

67

79

49

38

Calendar Year

90

Cases Heard

Source: SSA Office of Labor Management Relations.

SSA is currently developing a new system to better track and account for

time spent on union activities in its field offices and teleservice centers.

SSA says the purpose of this system is to provide management and the

union with a more accurate and up-to-date accounting of time spent and

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the number of employees working on union activities and to ensure that

time expended on certain activities does not exceed time allotted to the

unions by the contracts. SSA, however, has no current plans to apply this

new system to headquarters, the Program Service Centers, the Office of

Hearings and Appeals, or other components using the manual system and

did not explain why the agency made this decision.

SSA has no system for routinely calculating and reporting the cost of union

activity, although it does provide annual estimates of the expenses for

union activities to the Congress. Figure 6 shows that SSA’s estimates of

union costs increased from $6 million in fiscal year 1993 to $11 million in

fiscal year 1995. SSA’s total administrative expense budget estimate for

fiscal year 1995 was $5.5 billion.

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Figure 6: SSA Expenditures for Union Activities, 1990-95

450,000

1990

400,000

350,000

300,000

250,000

200,000

Official Hours

SSA-Reported Time

1991

Calendar Year

1992 1993 1994 1995

GAO-Determined Time

Source: SSA Justifications of Estimates for Appropriations Committees (FY 1990-1995) and GAO

cost estimate for 1995.

In order to determine the accuracy of these estimates, we tried to

construct our own estimate of union-related costs. Because the salaries of

union representatives make up most of the cost, we asked SSA for a list of

current representatives and the time they spend on union activities. SSA

estimated that there were about 1,600 union representatives, but the lists

they maintained were outdated and incomplete. We identified about 1,800

union representatives who are currently authorized by the union to spend

time on SSA union activities. SSA has also reported to the Congress that the

number of full-time representatives—those spending 75 percent or more of

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their time on union activities—grew from 80 to 145 between fiscal years

1993 and 1995. We identified 146 current full-time representatives. The

average annual salary in 1995 for the 146 full-time representatives was

$41,970. In 1996, their salaries ranged from $23,092 to $81,217. Table 1

shows the annual salary ranges of these representatives in 1996.

Table 1: 1996 Salary Ranges of Union

Representatives Spending 75 to 100

Percent of Their Time on Union

Activities

Salary ranges Number of representatives

0-$10,000 0

10,001-20,000 0

20,001-30,000 16

30,001-40,000 36

40,001-50,000 79

50,001-60,000 9

60,001-70,000 5

70,001-80,000 0

80,001-90,000 1

Over $90,000 0

Total 146

Source: SSA Office of Labor Management Relations and SSA personnel records.

We estimate that the total cost to SSA for union activities of all

representatives was about $12.6 million in 1995. We calculated the 1995

personnel cost to be $11.4 million by multiplying the average hourly salary

of union representatives (about $27.64, including benefits) by the 413,000

hours we estimated the representatives spent on union activities.

The remaining $1.2 million in total SSA costs for union activities includes

related travel expenses; SSA’s share of arbitration costs; and support costs,

such as supplies, office space, and telephone use. More specifically, in

accordance with the union contracts, SSA pays for travel related to

contract negotiations and grievance cases. In addition, it pays the travel

and per-diem costs of all union representatives, whenever meetings are

held at management’s initiative. Union representation at major SSA

initiatives, such as the reengineering of its disability programs, the

National Partnership Council, and Partnership training, has added to travel

and per-diem costs. In 1995, SSA estimated that it spent about $600,000 on

travel-related expenses for union representatives. Union representatives

told us that the union pays travel costs for union-sponsored training,

internal union activities, and some local travel.

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Under the national contract agreements, arbitration fees and related

expenses are shared equally between the union and SSA. SSA reported that

its share of arbitration costs was $54,000 for the 38 cases heard in 1995.

SSA also incurs other costs for telephones, computers, fax machines,

furniture, space, and supplies used by union representatives. In 1995, SSA

estimated this cost at $500,000.

Regarding the amount of dues collected from union members, we

determined that about $4.8 million was collected in 1995, mainly through

payroll deduction. The unions use these funds for their internal expenses,

which include the cost of lodging and transportation for union-provided

training; the union’s share of grievance costs; miscellaneous furniture,

supplies, and equipment for some union offices; the salaries of the AFGE

local president and his staff, who represent SSA headquarters employees;

and a share of national union expenses.

The recent advent of Partnership activities in SSA will likely increase the

time spent on union activities. The executive order on Partnership directs

agencies to involve unions as the representatives of employees to work as

full partners with management to design and implement changes

necessary to reform government. Partnership activities at SSA are just

starting, and we found that these limited activities are not routinely

designated by SSA in its union time-reporting system. It is possible that

time spent on Partnership activities is currently being reported in other

activity categories. Consequently, as Partnership activities increase, we

would expect the time devoted to them to also increase. However, this will

be evident only if agency time-reporting systems adequately designate this

time. It should be noted that many public and private organizations

without unions are involving employees in quality management initiatives

similar to Partnership activities.

SSA Management and

Union Views on Union

Time

SSA managers and union officials and representatives have offered their

views about the use of official time for union activities. SSA managers, both

individually and through their managers’ associations, have expressed

concern to us and to the Congress about limitations in their ability to

effectively manage their operations and control the use of time spent by

their employees under the current union/management arrangement. By

contract, the assignment of union representatives and the amount of time

they spend on union activities are determined by the union without the

consent of local management.

Page 17 GAO/T-HEHS-96-150
Social Security: Union Activity at the Social

Security Administration

Of the 31 field managers we interviewed, 21 said that it is more difficult to

manage day-to-day office functions because they have little or no control

over when and how union activities are conducted. They said that they

have trouble maintaining adequate staffing levels in the office to serve

walk-in traffic, answer the telephones, and handle routine office

workloads. Additionally, 18 expressed concern about the amount of time

they spend responding to union requests for information regarding

bargaining and grievances. We did not verify the accuracy of any of the

field managers’ statements. We tried to quantify the time spent by

managers on union-related activities, but SSA had no time reporting system

to track it. However, managers would be spending some of their time

interacting with employees about similar issues even if there were no

unions.

Nine out of the 15 union officials and representatives we talked to felt that

it was counterproductive in the Partnership era to track time spent on

union activities. They believe that union representation is an important

function that is authorized by a negotiated agreement with SSA that

authorizes them to represent the interests of their coworkers. They

consider the amount of time currently allocated for their activities as

appropriate and believe that more attention should be paid to the value of

their efforts than to the time it takes to conduct them.

Comparison of Time

Spent and Cost of

Union Activity at the

Postal Service, IRS,

and SSA

The Postal Service and IRS provided data to us on time spent on union

activities in their agencies. Postal Service records show that during fiscal

year 1995, union representatives at the Postal Service reported spending

1.7 million hours of official time on grievance processing and handling in

the early stages. This number does not include substantial amounts of

official time spent on employee involvement programs similar to SSA’s

Partnership activities, which are paid for by the Postal Service. Neither

does this number include official time spent on activities such as employee

involvement training and ULP charges.

IRS records showed that their union representatives reported spending

442,000 hours on union activities in fiscal year 1994, the most recent year

for which data are available. We did not attempt to verify these estimates.

Table 2 shows the amount of time reportedly spent and the bargaining unit

size of each organization. In fiscal year 1995, the Postal Service reported

spending $29 million in basic pay on grievance processing and handling for

the 1.7 million hours. IRS did not develop cost data for union operations.

Page 18 GAO/T-HEHS-96-150
Social Security: Union Activity at the Social

Security Administration

Table 2: Fiscal Year 1995 Comparative

Union-Related Data

Organization

Bargaining

unit size

Dues- paying

members

Time spent

(hours)

Cost (millions

of dollars)

Postal Service 751,000 623,000 1,744,000a 29.2

IRS 97,000 43,000 442,000b No data

SSA 52,000 24,000 404,000 11.0

aThis number does not include substantial additional time spent on union activities and paid for

by either the unions or the Postal Service.

bThis number is based on data from fiscal year 1994, the latest year for which data are available.

Source: Unverified data provided by agencies.

Who Pays Union

Costs in Private

Industry?

Union operations in private industry vary widely. In addition to bargaining

over working conditions as SSA unions do, unions in private industry

bargain over wages, hours, and benefits. In discussions with National

Labor Relations Board officials, we were told that some private-sector

firms do not pay their employees’ salaries for the time they spend

performing union activities, and other firms pay for some or all of the time.

For example, during our review of 10 contracts, we found that 7 provided

for company employees, acting as union representatives, to perform

certain union functions in addition to their company duties, at the expense

of the employer. In a 1992 publication that summarized basic patterns in

private industry union contracts, BNA reported that over 50 percent of the

400 labor contracts it analyzed guaranteed pay to employees engaged in

union activity on company time. It also reported that 22 percent of the

contracts specifically prohibit conducting union activities on company

time.

Private-sector employers negotiate company time with pay for union

representatives to handle grievances more frequently than they do for

contract negotiations. Of the contracts reviewed by BNA, 53 percent

guaranteed pay for union representatives to present, investigate, or handle

grievances. This practice was reported occurring twice as often in

manufacturing as in nonmanufacturing businesses. BNA reported that only

10 percent of the contracts guaranteed pay for employees to negotiate

contracts.

Forty-one percent of the private-sector contracts guaranteeing employees

pay when they conduct union activities on company time place

restrictions on representatives. BNA reported that in 19 percent of the cases

with such pay guarantees, management limited the amount of hours that it

Page 19 GAO/T-HEHS-96-150
Social Security: Union Activity at the Social

Security Administration

would pay for. Our review of 10 private-sector contracts submitted to the

Bureau of Labor Statistics found one negotiated contract under which

employees were limited to 6 hours a day of company time for union

representation and another under which employees were limited to 8

hours per week of company time for processing grievances.

Conclusions SSA, like other federal agencies and some private firms, pays for approved

time spent by their employees on union activities. SSA has a special

fiduciary responsibility to effectively manage and maintain the integrity of

the Social Security trust funds from which most of these expenses are

paid. In a time of shrinking budgets and personnel resources, it is

especially important for SSA, as well as other agencies, to evaluate how

resources are being spent and to have reliable monitoring systems that

facilitate this evaluation.

To ensure accurate tracking of time spent on union activities and the staff

conducting these activities, SSA has developed and is testing a new

time-reporting system for its field offices and teleservice centers. We agree

that these are valuable goals for a time-reporting system and believe that it

should be implemented agencywide, including at headquarters, Program

Service Centers, the Office of Hearings and Appeals, and other

components currently using the less reliable manual reporting system.

With an improved agencywide system, SSA management should have better

information on where its resources are being spent.

Mr. Chairman, this concludes my formal remarks. I would be happy to

answer any questions from you or other members of the Subcommittee.

Thank you.

For more information on this testimony, please call Jane L. Ross, Director,

Income Security Issues, at (202) 512-7215.

(105146) Page 20 GAO/T-HEHS-96-150
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