™;Em
Times
NEWS FOR AND ABOUT EPA EMPLOYEES
INSIDE:
~	CFC Goal Met
~	Union Agreement
~	Rotational Assignments
VOLUME 4 NUMBER 3 DECEMBER 1986
Prospects for a Happy New Year
In the rush to fund gov-
ernment operations and ad-
journ before the mid-term
elections, Congress paused
just along enough to stuff
our Christmas stockings
with a three-percent salary
raise. The Administration
accepted the boost as part
of a legislative package de-
signed to avoid further
shutdowns and keep federal
agencies going until next
year.
Staffers with long memor-
ies will recall they got a
four-percent raise in 1985
but none for the year now
concluding. All salaries
were frozen while Congress
and the White House strug-
gled to meet the budget-
cutting targets of Gramm-
Rudman-Hollings.
As for the future, surveys
of federal unions by a lead-
ing federal personnel news-
letter indicate that catch-up
and brain-drain will be the
big issues during 1987.
Union leaders admit some
federal employees are over-
paid in the context of local
living costs, but insist that
most, especially those liv-
ing in major metropolitan
areas, have fallen sub-
stantially behind their
private-sector peers, and
that the gap is particularly
wide at higher grade levels.
Some studies show that
GS-14s and 15s, with ex-
ceptions among bonus-rate
physicians and engineers,
have fallen as much as 25
percent behind those with
comparable responsibilities
in the private sector. Many
agencies, according to a
Pentagon analysis pub-
lished in the Washington
Post, report increasing dif-
ficulty in recruiting clerical
workers. The Director of the
Office of Personnel Manage-
ment (OPM) has ordered a
broad pay-comparability
study to determine the
facts. Meanwhile, of course,
OPM has the authority to
adjust pay rates locally to
improve hiring and reten-
tion.
Union chiefs contacted by
the Federal Personnel
Guide Weekly News Update
acknowledge that the high-
est hurdle they must sur-
mount in their struggle for
comparable pay is not Con-
gress, but the widespread
notion in the public mind
that government employees
couldn't survive "in the real
world," and that their func-
tions could either be abo-
lished or spun off to private
contractors.
As one Labor Department
official said in exasperation,
"after 40 years in the civil
service it's my opinion that
10 percent of public work-
ers are geniuses, 10 percent
are incompetent and the
rest are reliable, hard-
working people doing a
good job—the same spread
you find in business, un-
ions, university faculties,
the military and so forth."
Union leaders surveyed
do not believe the Adminis-
tration will attempt to ex-
pand the flexible pay sys-
tem tried out at China Lake
Naval Station in California
because, according to them,
it has no constituency,
either in Congress or among
employees. They think the
special rate program may be
liberalized somewhat, but
that giving supervisors
more leeway in determining
remuneration for in-
dividuals could lead to
favoritism and political
abuses. Still, they predict
that legislation to amend
the 1978 Civil Service Re-
form Act to permit addi-
tional demonstrations of
alternative payment
methods will be introduced.
A bill may also be tossed
into the hopper to require
OPM to conduct an outside
study of gender discrimina-
tion and determine whether
it is true—as alleged by the
National Center for Policy
Analysis—that the male-
female pay gap is due large-
ly to career interruptions
such as childbearing.
(Continued on back.)

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People
Around EPA
Congratulations to Ailean Griggs, Research and
Development, on 30 years of service to the federal
government.
Special Act Awards presented to: Kurt Jakobson,
Research and Development . . . Edward Gray, Paul
Frazier, and Charles Carter, Office of General Counsel . . .
Michael Walker, Julie Becker, Christopher Dunsky, and
Keith Onsdorff, Enforcement and Compliance Monitoring
. . . William Colony, Michael Goldstein, Ira Brass, and
Wilfreda Vazquez-Pol, Office of Inspector General . . .
David LaRoche and John Heath, Air and Radiation.
Sustained Superior Performance Awards to: Carla
Cromer, Air and Radiation . . . Margie Howard and Judith
Katz, Administration and Resources Management.
Patricia Powers, Research and Development, was
recognized by the D.C. Department of Employment
Services for her work with senior aides through the
Agency's Senior Environmental Employment Program. She
received a Distinguished Service Certificate. ~
Training
The Agencywide Rotational Assignment Development
Program began June 1980. Its purpose is to encourage and
provide a structure for all developmental assignments
within EPA. These assignments are designed to broaden
employees' backgrounds and experiences through
short-term details to other functions and positions in EPA
organizations. They will usually consist of details of at
least three months' duration between headquarters pro-
grams, headquarters and field programs, and field programs.
This is not a self-nominating program. A nomination as
a candidate for a rotational assignment must be approved
by the employee's organization. Each headquarters and
field organization has designed an RADP coordinator who
will broker personnel and positions for short-term
developmental assignments. These coordinators have the
necessary forms for proposing a rotational assignment or
advertising a rotational position. The Agencywide
program is managed by the Headquarters Training and
Development Staff. The Program Coordinator is Carlton
Cox.
A further incentive of this program is the availability of
travel and per diem help from a central Rotational
Assignment Development Fund. This Fund was used to
partially or fully pay the travel and per diem of 10
different rotational assignments between headquarters and
field and between field organizations in FY 1986.
Much positive response has been received concerning
this program. It is hoped that employees and managers
will use it to provide employees with multimedia
backgrounds, giving EPA a solid cadre of knowledgeable
professionals in all program areas. Anyone interested in
this program as a means of getting a rotational assignment
or obtaining candidates to fill a rotational opportunity,
should contact Cox on 382-2997 or contact their
organization's RADP contact. ~
An EPA Child Care Center Curriculum and Program
Task Force has been established to structure a plan for the
soon to be opened EPA Child Care Center. The Task Fo|«
headed by Shirley Smith, has been visiting other feder^J
agency and private child care centers to obtain informal®
on organizing, budgeting, and developing a philosophical
approach for child care. The Task Force intends to
implement a socially interactive as well as an academic
curriculum. Maternal care will also be emphasized. In
approximately three months, the Task Force plans to
interview candidates who share EPA's philosophy
with regard to child care. The center itself will be
opened in approximately 6-8 months.
Howard Messner Assistant Administrator for
Administration and Resources Management, has started a
program to give Assistant Regional Administrators and
Regional Management Division Directors a real-world view
of headquarters. They are scheduled for weekly tours to
gain familiarity with the opportunities and constraints
facing a national program manager. This program should
lead to stronger management systems and better
communications between headquarters and the regions.
Name Change: Within the Office of External Affairs, the
Office of Public & Private Sector Liaison is now the Office
of Community & Intergovernmental Relations.
The National Federal Women's Program (FWP) met in
Region 9 on October 28-29. The members addressed and
discussed several issues that impact on the employment
and advancement of women in the Agency. Two of the key
issues discussed were the recruitment of women,
ospocially scientists and engineers, and the
uadenepieseiitation of women in managerial and
supervisory roles. The council meets three times a year,
and members serve as advisors to the Agency's
Federal Women's Program. ~
Fascinating People
The EPA Times is now devoting a higher
proportion of space to features and items on
individual employees. We are seeking stories that
show the unusual side or the laudable activity of
fellow employees. In all likelihood, you know
someone (perhaps yourself) who deserves coverage in
these pages. So, call your local public affairs office
and help us learn about each other.
The EPA Times is published monthly to provide news and informa-
tion for and about EPA employees. Readers are encouraged to submit
news of themselves and of fellow employees, letters of opinion, ques-
tions, comments, and suggestions to the Editor, The EPA Times, Office
of Public Affairs (A-107). Telephone: 382-4359. Information selected
for publication will be edited as necessary in keeping with space
available.
Features Editor: Don Bronkema
Departments Editor- Marilyn Rogers

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One of Us
Our thanks to Lee Blackburn of Region 3 for submitting the mate-
rial for this story.
Profile: Mark Barath—Region 3
ps of people feel vague impulses to lend a hand to the
Tmortunate, but for Mark Barath, a Region 3 NPDES Field
Inspector in Wheeling, West Virginia, caring means more
than talk. He took a leave of absence from July 1985 to
January 1986 to help clean up a camp full of starving
Ethiopian refugees. A former Peace Corps volunteer,
Barath said "you never get it out of your blood. It was very
rewarding to deal hands-on with such desperate people
and see the results immediately."
Working with the International Rescue Committee,
Barath was in charge of sanitation at Wad Kowli in the
Sudan, just five miles from the Ethiopian border. He faced
many challenges and cultural impediments, not the least
of which was language. He spoke not a word of Amharic
or Arabic when he arrived, so he had to learn fast at the
scene of the action. When things got complicated he had
to depend on Ethiopian straw-bosses, most of whom were
political refugees, some educated and with a command of
English.
"Just getting there was a struggle," Barath recalled. The
camp was 75 miles from the nearest paved road, and the
rainy season was in full-flood, making the passage slow
and treacherous. Even four-wheel-drive pickups had
difficulty and the big lorries, jammed with supplies of
food and drugs, were often mired for days in gumbo up to
the fenders.
uke other volunteers, Barath lived in a mud and wattle
p a compound about a kilometer from the village,
re was little time for sleep and none for R&R. "We
worked up to ten hours a day, six days a week. The crisis
nit; le
was always there. You couldn't escape it." He is grateful to
EPA for granting him a six-month leave of absence to
fulfill his commitment to social justice and civic action.
"It was the deciding factor," he said. "It's easy to do
something like that if you know you have a job to come
back to."
Barath claims the Ethiopians taught him a great deal
about the human will to survive and to overcome. "I
sensed also their deep appreciation of our work." He
added that he was struck by the international scope of the
relief campaign. Heroic efforts were mounted by
volunteers from Great Britain, Thailand, France and
Canada as well as the United States. This proves, Barath
declares, that "people of diverse national and cultural
backgrounds can collaborate in eleemosynary activity
under the worst possible conditions." To which we say
" amen." Region 3 and EPA in general are proud of Mark
Barath's labors on behalf of his fellow-men. As they say in
Amharic, "amsednaJhu" (thanks). ~
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Notes from the Field
By Priscilla Flattery
Priscilla Smith Flattery is the Regional Coordinator in the
Office of Public Affairs. All employees are encouraged to con-
tribute to this column by submitting ideas, information, and
comments to her. Telephone: 382-4387. Mail code: A-107.
If you are a Region 6 employee and you aren't
happy with your office space, don't despair. The
Regional Office will be moving in January to a new
60-story prism-shaped glass building overlooking an
urban park with water gardens, fountain jets, and a
plaza of cypress trees. The sculptured tower was
designed by internationally renowned architects
I.M. Pei and Partners and Harry Weese ... A first
for EPA: Michael Elam, senior attorney and branch
chief in Region 5, received the 1986 Younger
Federal Lawyer Award from the Federal Bar
Association in Washington, DC. This award, which
recognizes extraordinary achievement during the
past fiscal year, is the first ever presented to an
EPA attorney . . . Dr. Vinh Cam, Region 2
environmental scientist in the Emergency and
Remedial Response Division, was honored as
"Woman of the Year" this fall at the annual Salute
to Asian American Business Awards Ceremony by
the Chinatown Neighborhood Development
Corporation . . . Hagan Thompson, Region 4 Public
Affairs Director, recently bicycled a 260-mile,
3V2-day route from Atlanta to Savannah—
affectionately known to many southerners
as General Sherman's "March to the Sea."
Happily, Hagan was able to pedal.
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Happy New Year (Continued from /ront.J
But speaking of that
Christmas stocking, what
goes in one end can just as
easily fall out the other.
The Tax Reform Act of
1986 will require feds to
pay taxes from the first day
of retirement on their own,
as well as Uncle Sam's,
contributions to their annu-
ity checks. The grace period
during which one's already-
taxed contributions were
paid out tax-free, lasting
from a few months to as
much as three years, is no
more. What this means is
that those who structured
their finances so as to col-
lect investment income dur-
ing the hiatus will now pay
extra taxes and probably at
a higher rate.
Civil servants are gravely
disappointed by this "re-
form" but, according to
Weekly News Update,
union moguls are none too
optimistic about the pro-
spects for redress. They
would have to prove in
court that the new arrange-
ments are unconstitutional
or a violation of legislative
due process, or persuade
Congress to restore the
former system. The grace
period may be down the
drain for good.
However, it's an ill wind
that blows no bennies. The
Post's actuarial consuU^k
claim that if you enjc^^^B
normal life span afterlBre-
ment, you will break even
and be in the gravy. ~
CFC Reaches Goal
EPA headquarters' ambitious goal of $303,512 for
the Combined Federal Campaign has been surpassed.
This achievement was made possible by the
exceptional efforts of numerous people and a lot of
creativity.
Lee Thomas opened the Campaign with a kick-off,
complete with band and chorus. The unveiling of
Terry Turkey, a paper mache creation, was held and
Terry was moved from building to building to bring
attention to the Campaign and encourage
participation. Halfway through the Campaign, 40
CFC-sponsored agencies were invited to come to
EPA, set up a display, distribute literature, answer
employee questions, and encourage contributions.
The CFC film was distributed throughout the Agency
and used widely.
These activities were followed by several events
initiated by the CFC Administrators and 13
headquarters coordinators. Events such as a bake-off
with Jim Barnes and Howard Messner as judges,
Halloween Party, breakfast/lunch, auctions, raffles,
and book sales were constantly going on. CFC
coordinators visited such CFC-sponsored agencies as
McKenna House, St. Anne Infant and Maternity
Home, and the Independent Living for the
Handicapped. EPA employees can be proud of their
accomplishments and the total effort that is given to
help those less fortunate than we.
Headquarters/Union Agreement Signed
On November 13, Deputy
Administrator Jim Barnes
and the National Federation
of Federal Employees
(NFFE) Local 2050
president Dr. Robert Carton
signed into effect the first
collective bargaining agree-
ment between EPA head-
quarters management and
Local 2050.
Barnes called the agree-
ment, "an innovation in
EPA labor relations which I
believe will move the Agen-
cy forward in the achieve-
ment of its mission."
The contract is unique
because of its innovative
approach in handling tradi-
tional management/labor
issues. Rather than dealing
with a myriad of detail, this
agreement establishes a
relationship based on trust
and mutuality of concerns.
PIC Open House
EPA's Public Information Center (PIC) held an Open Ho
November 14. Over 100 managers and employees attendef^^^m
including: (left to right): Ed Hanley, Director of Office of
Information Resources Management; Morgan Kinghorn, DAA for
Administration and Resources Management; Loretta Marzetti,
Chief of Information Services; and contractors Bill Parks, Robin
Anderson, and Victor Labat.
The traditional adversarial
roles found in most col-
lective bargaining agree-
ments have been replaced
with an active labor/
management committee
which deals with conflicts
as they arise, based on the
merits of the issue, and
with equity and fairness as
the stated goal.
The agreement is in effect
for three years. It is a result
of over 18 months of nego-
tiations between Rich Lem-
ley, representing EPA Man-
agement, and Dr. Carton
and William Coniglio,
representing NFFE Local
2050, and NFFE National
president, Jim Pierce and
representatives of the Office
of Administration and Re-
sources Management.
The document was signed
simultaneously by Barnes,
Pierce, Lemley, Coniglio,
Dr. Clayton, and by the
Assistant Administra
OARM, Howard
The ceremony took
the Administrator's con-
ference room. ~
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