The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents workers of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, claims the furloughs would cause the current backlog of workplace discrimination cases to grow by nearly 40 percent.
“Before one employee gets furloughed, EEOC needs to scrub its budget for savings, create efficiencies and give up its sacred cows,” said Gabrielle Martin, president of the National Council of EEOC Locals.
The agency must trim its spending by 5 percent under the sequester.
Martin plans to argue on Thursday that the commission could achieve its cost-savings by reducing contracts, lowering the supervisor-to-employee ratio, trimming management travel and utilizing telework options, according to a statement from the union.
Martin said the commission should be “following [Government Services Administration's] lead by canceling conferences.” She noted that the agency is still promoting its leadership conference in May.
The GSA this week canceled the last of its national conferences scheduled for this year.
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