A term we have heard talking about essential frontline federal employees. Give us an idea of who some of those employees are. What are their jobs . Guest some of those employees would be tsa. Some of our Veterans Administration workers. Would be some of our prison workers. Some of those would be essential personnel. Guest what are you hearing from those frontline workers during the crisis . Guest more than anything is , protection. They feel that they are inadequately protected. While they have to and they want to do their job, just want to be protected. Our main concern is making sure that those employees that we represent are protected. Host do you have any idea of how many of your members have contracted covid19 . Guest i dont really have an accurate number. I do know that within the tsa is about 170 so far and in the Veterans Administration, i think the last count i had was about 189. Can i give you a little background of why we feel so strongly about the fact we need the protection . Host it is a coincidence that the number that you represent, over 700,000, is basically the number of jobs lost in march according to the bureau of labor statistics. Do you have an idea of how many jobs, federal and otherwise in march . Guest at this point, we dont have that number. Most of the building facilities are still working. We have our Veterans Administration still working, tsa still working. We do have some personnel that is teleworking, working from home. There are certainly not enough people working from home. Because everyday they are facing the threat of contracting this virus. Host how do you think that might change the federal workforce given that not given so much done from home now . Guest i think that in many cases we are still able to get the job done. We advocate for a teleworking in many instances because we are able to complete the job and do it well. Exceptionally well, might i add. I dont see that it will affect the ability to get the services to the public. Host our guest is everett kelley, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees. We are talking about the federal workers and the coronavirus pandemic. We welcome your calls. 202 7488000 for those of you in the eastern and central time zones. 202 7488001 for the mountains and pacific time zones. For those of you that are federal employees, the number is 202 7488002. Tell us the kind of work you do and some of your concerns during the pandemic. Fox. Com thatat says, what are tsa agents doing now that hardly anyone is flying . The coronavirus has changed airports for the tsa. They really are the front line employees, but there are still flights flying across the u. S. What are some of the things you are hearing from tsa members . Guest again, you know, the main thing is they are concerned about their safety. After we have on a daily basis asked them to provide adequate protection for the tsos. Going back as far as early february and march. Finally they have given them some masks. They fear that in a short period of time those masks will be exhausted. Actually fearful of not being protected adequately. I think that is the main concern. These tsos are willing and ready to work. They just want to do it in a safe manner. Host what type of health care do most fulltime federal employees receive . Guest they have an opportunity to choose their health care from Blue Cross Blue Shield to an array of various Health Care Opportunities for those employees. They have an opportunity to choose which one they desire. Host there is talk in washington of a fourth pandemic legislation coming out after the 2 trillion measure passed last week. Signed by the president. What other measures do you think the federal government needs to take to ensure the security of federal workers and workers countrywide . Guest i think that more than anything what the federal government needs to do is be making sure that if an employee is high risk, that they all have opportunities to be away from the job in order to not affect anyone else. They also need to make sure that all federal employees working under these conditions have the opportunity to be paid hazardous duty pay. Because i think that that is also important. Host the headline says federal workers in the union sue for hazard pay. A federal classaction lawsuit argues agencies should be required to provide hazardous duty pay to employees exposed to the coronavirus. Parenthetically, of us anecdotally what you may have of your members in terms of stories you may have heard being asked to work when they do not want to work or are concerned about coming into work. Have you heard things like that . Guest we certainly have. We have heard people being forced into work and knowing that they may have been around people that have tested positive for the coronavirus. There are also those that want to work that have been told they cannot work. There have been sad stories out there. I have had the opportunity to speak with several members of our union as they have been tested positive, and are in tears. I have had the opportunity to call them and they have said they have just been treated so badly by the administration. The only thing you can do is just pray for them. That is what we have been doing. At the same time continuing to talk with the different agencies and insist that they provide adequate protection for our employees. Host you are the president of the American Federation of Government Employees. What is your background . Guest i retired from the department of defense out of anniston, alabama. 34 years there. I also served in the army for three years. Host lets get to calls. We have lots waiting period we will hear first from ashley, jacksonville, florida. Caller i was calling because i have some concerns. I currently work for the federal government. We were being told because we are not direct patient care that we cant wear masks. We are still having to do facetoface contact with people. Available tos only people in tiers. If you are teleworking, you have to use your own cell phone and laptop. You are not compensated for it. I. T. Cannot handle how many people are working from home. We have to use our own sick leave if we think we have been possibly exposed to covid19. I think the government should be more prepared for this type of stuff at this point. We have went through the ebola virus, 9 11, hurricane disasters in houston and parts of florida. I feel like the government should be more prepared to transfer their workforce to telework with all of the things that have happened in the past. There,several things including the use of her personal seraph cell phone and concerns about using her sick leave. Guest i totally agree with the sister. Thank you for those comments. I too think the federal government should be responsible for making sure that you have adequate equipment to perform your job duties and also to make sure that you have ppe so that you are not contracted with this virus. That is the position of the union and the reason we continue to push agencies to make sure they are providing these types of amenities to our workers. I totally agree with you. We continue to push for that. Some agencies are a little tougher. We will continue to push harder, even with congress, where we are letting them know what is going on with agencies that are not adhering to the cdc guidance. Guest what is typically the policy of agencies in terms of using personal cell phones to get work done . Are workers reimbursed for that . Guest they should be reimbursed for that. The key, if i make, is the fact that some of these executive orders have taken away the unions ability to negotiate on these things. That is essentially what these executive orders have done, eliminated the bargaining opportunities for unions so management has the opportunity to go in and direct the employees to do certain things without an opportunity to negotiate. That is the backlash of the three executive orders that were issued by this administration in 2018 that we have been challenging over and over again. Host the next call is from concord, massachusetts. Janet, welcome. Caller thank you. My question is, what can be done to force Social Security administration to reopen the teleservices centers that were closed by this administration in servesr of 2019, which mr. And misses john q public so claims for disability, retirement, and Survivor Benefits could be done by telephone . Host when did they close . Caller december 2019. Guest ok we were opposed to closing those centers. I think the Council President has done an outstanding job to at getting this out to the public. It is going to take the public getting involved. Same saying to the administration and congressional personal that this is not conducive for this community or that community. We continue to fight against that. Again, this administration is really coming after us and and giving us not a lot of opportunities to bargain. In the past we could have bargained those types of closures, but with these executive orders, it does not give us that opportunity. Host our line for federal workers is 202 7488002. This is sheila in portsmouth, virginia. Caller good morning. Im with a Veterans Affairs. I have a number of concerns regarding how our employees are treated. But the fact also that when we are not treated well, our veterans are not treated well either. We have employees who today are still being forced to see veterans facetoface without protection and so forth being provided to them. That puts the veteran at risk , because we could have covid19. That puts the employee at risk because the veteran could have covid19. It is not a safe situation, and requiring our providers to come to work, see patients when they themselves are positive and they could give it to their coworkers , they could give it to the veteran too. I just dont understand where some of these things came about. I know we have been fighting it. Im so glad that we are on cspan today to hopefully really get that word out to john q public, to get on the phone and call your congressman and senator. Let them know that what is happening is not safe. The Veterans Affairs department and all over to force employees to have to use their own masks, if they will even allow them to bring their own masks is wrong. Those things should be provided. There should have been preparations made for this. I could go on and on with the concerns my people have. I have people today where the v. A. Will not even tell the public how many employees are being adversely impacted. Host all right, sheila, we will get a response. Guest thank you for your comments. You are dead on point. We have continued to raise these issues with the administration. This administration seemingly just does not care for the employees. If i may just be blunt. We know of a situation in we heard last where they were not even issuing protective clothing. They were given a trash bag to use in a procedure. When they came out, they pass it along to someone else. That is absurd. I agree with the sister, this administration should have been much more prepared for a situation like this, and they are seemingly not even trying to prepare now. We are calling on this administration to make sure that people are adequately protected , that they do not have to use their own personal equipment unless they are going to be reimbursed for that. I totally agree with this sister. We are working that issue as fast and hard as we can. Thank you for being in the fight, sister. Host obviously a great concentration of federal employees in d. C. One in seven in d. C. May get the virus. One in every seven residents could get infected with the novel coronavirus. According to projections cited on friday, showing that the pandemic hitting its peak in the Nations Capital early this summer and then gradually receding. The grim estimates came as the number of coronavirus cases in the district past 5000 friday morning, and the number of total fatalities climbed past 100. How many federal employees are there in the greater Nations Capital region . Guest this seems like when we were dealing with the 35 day shutdown it may have been close to 180,000, 200,000 federal workers in the region. Host what kind of plans are in place to handle the potential of the loss of the federal workforce due to illness or death . Guest again, the bottom line is i dont see that there is any real plan in place. They have really shut the unions not anthat there is opportunity to bargain. Management is making decisions without consulting or having any opportunities to negotiate with the unions. So, there is no plan. If you really want to resolve a problem, you go to that person that is actually performing those duties every day. If you really want to know the answers. They are not getting that feedback. They are not getting any information from the employees , nor from the union. There is no plans in place. I do not know if there will be a plan in place in the future. I think that we are going to see some tragic times if we dont come together and Work Together to resolve these issues. Particular,sa in obviously the flights are greatly reduced. How much are the airlines on your side on this for coming to the assistance of tsa workers . What are the airlines saying about needing masks for those workers and their own employees . Guest certainly, the Airline Industry is working in because they all understand the risks that are involved and want to see masks with the tsos. We are all working towards the same objective here. That is to ensure that all employees and the public is protected. Host linda is next. She is a federal employee in las vegas, nevada. Go ahead. Caller good morning. Kelly for dr. Bringing this awareness to the public. I feel as though the agency is illprepared for this National Emergency that is upon us right now, and with a National Emergency, it takes National Preparedness. And in the v. A. System we have none. Our frontline workers are being exposed. They are not trained. They have been pulled and reassigned into areas they have never worked before. And they are afraid. They are terrified. There is chaos, there is confusion. Im afraid that they are going to take all these employees out ppe,se we dont have the we dont have the training. This is National Preparedness that we should be prepared for every year and they have not done so. We need proper training for our frontline employees who have been realigned from clinics. Now they are doing Emergency Care that they have never done before and they expect everybody to just jump in and do it. Host tell us the kind of work you do. Caller i am a nurse and i am a president of my union. We sit down to negotiate or try to, but they already have their mind made up of the changes they are just going to throw our employees into regardless of what we propose or ask for. Were just trying to protect the members. It is really sad and frustrating. Host thank you. Guest thank you so much for those comments. As the president of the fd, we go through certain situations, and what i know is this, the buck stops here. I am responsible for what happens. I take that very seriously. I think it is time for us as america, and as this administration to stop throwing the blame game and except the except to the responsibility of the buck stops here. I think we have the opportunity to do something. There are a lot of things that could be done, in my opinion. I submit that if you were to get the unions and management talking, you could resolve some of these issues. But it is not happening. As a matter of fact, some managers are being told not to discuss these issues with the unions. Military. Com in yesterday that the secretary of defense has told the commanders that they dont even want to know how many people are affected by the coronavirus. Just deal with it. That is what we are dealing with every single day. Go to it, you can read it for yourself. It is sad that we are in a country that does not care more about its citizens than what we are seeing. We want to see not just people protected. We want to see every american citizen protected from this virus. Host you mentioned the executive orders issued by the white house leaving the union out of it. Typically, are you given input on things, or at least advance warning of some of these actions . Why was the union left out of consideration in this order . Guest i wish i could give you the reason why. Tonow that typically, prior the executive orders, the union would have been consulted and given an opportunity to give input. With these executive orders, intentionally not consulted, they are intentionally left out. It is an opportunity for this administration to bust unions. I believe that is the intent. Some of management are not agreeing with it, but they have to do what they are told to do. They understand that they need the union in order to accomplish some of the missions that need to be accomplished. Host one of those employees that many of us see every, postal workers. Pictured here but the headline thousands of employees have contracted covid19. We go to joseph next in georgia. Go ahead. Caller good morning, mr. President. Question is related to safety leave. We have been told that employees designated as Mission Essential are ineligible for weather and safety leave, although i have been unable to find any guidance, and management has refused to provide any. I was wondering if you had any information related to that . Guest there are a couple of things i want to tell you. First of all, your local should be meeting with management and making some arguments about who should be and when a person should be getting this type of leave. Secondly, i would invite you to and you canbsite find a lot of information there. You will also find a poc there that i would like for you to talk with, if you dont mind. Those two things i would suggest for you. Host we will hear from chris in hampton, arkansas. Caller thank you for taking my call. Thank you cspan and the things that you do. My kudos for the union guy there. I have a question. Here in arkansas, there is a facility, used to be called National Center for toxicological research. Now everything except essential personnel, that would be the guys that keep the refrigerators running and feed the monkeys, have been furloughed. These are some of the most intelligent people. They know scientific method. They have all the stuff to do anything with in that facility. As wondering, why is this i guess the fda guy, why are not these facilities being utilized in the investigation of the coronavirus . I will take my answer off the air. Host any answer for that . Guest i would say this. Again, there are so many jobs being furloughed. I dont have the answer as to why. I do know we are fighting against those type of things. There was a lot of facilities that could be used that are not being used. Out of nowhere, sometimes we get a notice that these employees are going to be furloughed, and this is where they are going. In many instances we have not had an opportunity to say anything about that because of diminishing opportunities to bargain. Host ron is next in georgia, federal employee. You are on the air. Caller this is ron johnson. I am the president of the local. My staff was being told the same thing. Everybody is labeled essential. Everyone has pretty much direct contact. I have been arguing the safety leave, i have been arguing the hazardous pay. Management has said there is no for the pay oron the weather leave. Can we get some clarification . Guest can you hear me, brother jonathan . Caller yes. Guest i would suggest that you go to our website and look at guest we have employees that work in the Grocery Stores that are contracting this virus. I dont downplay any occupation. All of those personnel need to be protected adequately. I dont think we have done a good job, this administration and the whole, has done a good job of making sure that every citizen in america is protected. Host responding to that photo we showed you of the postal worker, jodi tweets this. All hands on deck. Thanks to postal carriers. With a sign on a rural airbox saying, thanks, postal workers. Topeka, kansas. Steve is next. Good morning. Caller good morning. Can you hear me go ok . Host we can. Caller im a retired federal employee. The National Weather service in topeka. I might give a shout out to the association of retired federal employees, which maybe you dont realize, but they also have it for us too. Anyway, retired 17 years in topeka. By the way, it is tornado season out here in kansas among other locations in the central plains. Fact, our governor in her Daily Press Briefings was mentioning tornado season and are, potentially when you inside there may be a tornado coming, you will not be far away from your basement. My wife is a former teacher, student teacher. I feel like a first grader here because she says wash your hands all the time. I think we are responding well. I am concerned about our office. As a retired employee, i cannot even get into the office. We are one of 900 stations around the world that release weather balloons. One would have one top about an hour and a half ago. I cannot even go on the grounds to watch this. I had some grandkids that wanted to watch this. They could not even get on the grounds to watch this. The release point is 50 yards away, it is out in the open. I can watch across the street. I cant even be on the property. I totally understand. My boss is the first woman boss in our office history, if you look back, these offices go back to the 1880s. I can go on with lots of stories. One of his situations aside from that is that the Government Shutdown was about a month long , seven months back. One of the employers is new with a child that she had. She came on just when the Government Shutdown came on. We are a employees, obviously, and she was not paid for over a month. But she was glad to be there because she was, in her mind, as all employees are dedicated to her job. I think the only person that can get in is the janitor. Host i will let you go there. Guest thank you for those comments. What i will say is this. I am grateful for that Government Employee that worked those 35 days without pay. We had a tragedy there, and thanks to the unions and congressional personnel, we made sure that a person never have to work again under those circumstances without getting paid. These are the types of things the union does for employees. That is why we think it is essential that the administration at least talk to the union about the issues and lets Work Together to resolve those things. Host next up is sharon from new jersey, also a federal employee. Caller good morning. Good morning. How are you . Thank you to cspan. There are a lot of federal employees that are not covered under the bargaining unit. We fall into this ambiguous category where we are employees. We are on a certain level, not considered management. We are not considered lower employees. We are kind of left in limbo. I wish that someone would take us into consideration, because we are just hanging. We just hang out there. We might get information. We might not get information. That is one of the things i would like to say and ask, if you have any input as far as we are concerned . Host everett kelley, go ahead. Guest i would suggest that you speak with the Union Representative there on your campus or installation. I will say this. The union is out there fighting for every employee. Ok . We had an opportunity to share a conversation with two senators yesterday, and the ask was not for just bargaining unit employees, right . It was for all federal employees. That continues to be our ask. We will continue down that road of making sure that every person, all federal employees are protected, and then in order to get information, i would suggest you contact the Union Representative at your installation and ask them to share information with you. It may not know that you are in need of information. Host the previous caller mentioned the Government Shutdown of last year. Is there any similarity here . Have there been federal employees, personnel asked to temporarily furlough . Guest to my knowledge, i dont think it has been. Ok, david thanks top in new jersey. Caller good morning. Thanks for being there for us. I want to appreciate all these medical personnel in danger. I think them for their service. My quick question is, i am a representative of the engineers and scientists union. I think this applies to many others. If we are teleworking and our computer breaks down and we are locked out from our installation, are we covered weather leave . Do you know . Guest i would ask you to consult with your local president to answer that specific question. I can answer in generalities, but that specific question, i would ask you to check with your Union President or representative. It would make sense, but i cannot say for sure. Host we mentioned this story earlier. Politico reports d. C. Leaders fear an outbreak that cripples the country. The Nations Capital responsible for running the nations Coronavirus Response is about to get socked. That new the right except withw, hundreds of thousands of federal workers living there. That is where government officials and Health Experts across the d. C. Area fear the region is heading. The pandemic has gone easier on the capital than some major metro areas. But it is about to hit hard, they say. You can read about that at politico. Com. A couple of more calls here. Were going to kate in ohio, federal employee. Thank you for being on today and thank you for taking my call. I actually have a couple of questions. I was recently told that if i was concerned about my health coming into work right now that maybe i fall into one of those high risk categories that i could work through reasonable accommodations. However, this does not apply to family members that i care for. I have a sun who has severe asthma. We are doing breathing treatments for him. And i help take care of my 80yearold fatherinlaw that asthma, emphysema, copd. I am very concerned about bringing this home to them. Currently reasonable accommodations is not taking that into consideration. I did not know if the union was aware of this, if union was fighting to get that to be a consideration for reasonable accommodations. That is my first question. Guest let me try to answer the first one. Again, i would refer you to go to our website. We have a complete department that deals with those types of issues. I would suggest go to the website and contact that office. They will be up to give you guidance on that particular issue. Caller thank you so much. Thank you. My second question is i just the unionn email from about new leave categories about additional weeks of sick leave if you contract the virus and then leave for employees with children at home. I do have a schoolaged child at home that we are trying to wevide child care for, and are trying to teach her. This is a lot working fulltime. My husband is frontline in this. Said theseeceived were either or leave categories. You cannot take both. If i were to try to stay at home with my children for two weeks and then go back to work and somehow contract the virus, then that sick leave category does not apply. Is that something the union is working on . We could really use the help at home with the kids. But i am worried to take that leave now. Then i go back and may contract the virus and have to be off for that. I didnt know if that was something that you all are working towards as well. Guest i cannot stress the importance of going to the an