United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Health, Education, and Human Services Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1996-06-04 monographic deposited born digital 24 p. GA 1.13:T-HEHS-96-150 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-T-HEHS-96-150 P0b002ee18039873b f:he96150t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-T-HEHS-96-150 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-T-HEHS-96-150 T-HEHS-96-150 Labor-management relations Leave Government employee unions Labor negotiations Personnel management Federal employees Human resources utilization Accounting procedures Collective bargaining Testimony HEHS Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed union activities at the Social Security Administration (SSA) and how these activities compare with other federal agencies, federal corporations, and the private sector. GAO noted that: (1) unions have significant involvement in operations and management decisions and union representatives use authorized paid time off to conduct their activities; (2) agencies are not required to track the amount of official time charged to union activities; (3) in 1995, time spent on union activities at SSA totalled about 413,000 hours, costing SSA trust funds about $12.6 million; (4) in 1995, the number of full-time SSA union representatives increased to 145; (5) SSA believes that time spent on union activities is underreported because there is no reporting system that adequately tracks union representatives' activities; (6) unions determine the amount of time representatives should spend on union activities, without consent from local managers; (7) SSA field managers believe that the lack of consent for union activities has caused operational problems; (8) union officials believe that the time spent on union activities is necessary to fully represent the interests of SSA workers; (9) the amount and cost of union activity at the Internal Revenue Service is slightly more than at SSA; (10) the Postal Service incurred substantially more union activity costs than SSA; and (11) the extent to which private industry supports and pays for union activities varies widely among companies. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-T-HEHS-96-150/html/GAOREPORTS-T-HEHS-96-150.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-T-HEHS-96-150/pdf/GAOREPORTS-T-HEHS-96-150.pdf GAO/T-HEHS-96-150 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-T-HEHS-96-150 Testimony GAO/T-HEHS-96-150; Social Security: Union Activity at the Social Security Administration; Labor-management relations Leave Government employee unions Labor negotiations Personnel management Federal employees Human resources utilization Accounting procedures Collective bargaining