Biden wants RTO

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:We’re now seriously arguing that if Trump were president he wouldn’t be ordering federal workers back to the office? Really?

No Ms. Strawman, we are not arguing that because Trump is not in office and its irrelevant.
Really.

Only replying to the poster who said they wouldn’t vote Biden 2024 because of RTO. Republicans are much more hellbent on making life difficult for Feds.

This is not as clear an issue as you'd think, and I'll take my chances with a Republican if Biden continues this nonsense. For example, the former chair of FDIC was a Republican and was very pro-WFH, then she quit and now her successor, who is a Democrat, has been endlessly trying to find ways to undercut WFH, even though the CBA allows full-time WFH for most employees. The Republican former chair was pro-WFH because she thought it was good for cutting costs associated with expensive building leases.

Also, if you look back historically, pay raises for federal employees have been more generous under Republican administrations. Remember all those pay freezes under Obama? (Don't rely on the pay raise that happened in the past year, which was an anomaly in the grand scheme.)

I'm a Democrat, but while most stuff that happens at the national level really doesn't impact me, forcing me to go back to the office absolutely does, and so for the first time in my life, I will vote for a Republican president if Biden continues this effort.

I’m a fed who loves telework and think the RTO pitch is definitely driven by private sector financial interests. And I’m not some huge fan of Biden either, but there’s no way I’m voting Republican when women’s reproductive rights are being taken away and guns are one of the top killers of children in this country. I’m not giving up my morals in some total gamble that maybe a Republican will be more telework friendly. Also, remember which party is trying to decrease the power of unions, which have a huge part in negotiating telework agreements at many agencies.

It’s just such a bizarre take to vote R over this.

1. Reproductive rights aren't changing for the better anytime soon. That battle is lost. The Supreme Court is 6-3.
2. Gun deaths are out of control in DC. What have Biden and Boswer done to prevent these gun deaths?
3. How is Biden honoring unions when he seems to believe that he can single-handedly force federal employees back to the office?

Maybe you should start demanding that Biden actually show some results for your vote.

We know that Republicans that currently lead the party will make life hell for Federal employees.
I mean, Biden should do better, but he knows we have no other real options.

Or maybe Biden is doing the right, and even the Democratic, thing. Democrats typically support urban centers and those areas are the most hurt by 100% WFH. As for the right thing, maybe WFH folks need to think about more than themselves. In fact, the world is pretty interconnected and the ramifications of urban decay can easily feed to areas where WFH folks thought they were isolated. The pandemic has made people extremely selfish.

Why the fudge should I care about issues like urban decay. Sure, "because we live in a society." But why us? No one cared to pay us enough to live there, so why is this one sided? If you want us to care now, you should have at least pretended to care about us.

I never understand selfish civil servants who don’t care about their communities. Why did you get into this line of work if you don’t care about broader issues in society?

What did DC ever do for Federal employees, besides have a horrible Metro system and charge high prices for parking? They treat us like we’re a bank account. What about the high paid lawyers and lobbyists, why not ask them for money?

DC’s metro system is one if the best in the country. Name 5 US cities with better public transit in and out of the urban center. Now we can use it to get to another airport.

Europe has long surpassed us in this respect, but DC’s metro is a plus for the city.

NP and we pay $$$ for it. Riding subways in other cities is like $2. It's triple that here.

[Anonymous]

Can someone answer me this: With the most recent managers return to office 50% mandate that came out in most agencies, was this a union thing? They couldn't force non managers back to the office because of union negotiations but they could force managers in?

Someone told me this, but I'm not sure of how true it was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one is talking about lack of office space. My agency has consolidated leases. No one has a desk anymore. I don't think more than 1 day a week is possible. We are almost all remote workers now with our homes as official duty stations.

+1. My children are older, I have a good commute and I like my coworkers so I wouldn’t mind coming back three days a week (same as before covid) but they literally have nowhere to put us because they gave up so much space - and are still actively giving up - that they can’t have more than half the people in at the same time. They really need to think things through in a logical and consistent fashion. But they don’t.

[Anonymous]

I think this will be kicked to individual agencies with widely ranging results. We converted a bunch of jobs to “remote only” so those folks can’t come back (easily).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’re now seriously arguing that if Trump were president he wouldn’t be ordering federal workers back to the office? Really?

No Ms. Strawman, we are not arguing that because Trump is not in office and its irrelevant.
Really.

Only replying to the poster who said they wouldn’t vote Biden 2024 because of RTO. Republicans are much more hellbent on making life difficult for Feds.

This is not as clear an issue as you'd think, and I'll take my chances with a Republican if Biden continues this nonsense. For example, the former chair of FDIC was a Republican and was very pro-WFH, then she quit and now her successor, who is a Democrat, has been endlessly trying to find ways to undercut WFH, even though the CBA allows full-time WFH for most employees. The Republican former chair was pro-WFH because she thought it was good for cutting costs associated with expensive building leases.

Also, if you look back historically, pay raises for federal employees have been more generous under Republican administrations. Remember all those pay freezes under Obama? (Don't rely on the pay raise that happened in the past year, which was an anomaly in the grand scheme.)

I'm a Democrat, but while most stuff that happens at the national level really doesn't impact me, forcing me to go back to the office absolutely does, and so for the first time in my life, I will vote for a Republican president if Biden continues this effort.

I’m a fed who loves telework and think the RTO pitch is definitely driven by private sector financial interests. And I’m not some huge fan of Biden either, but there’s no way I’m voting Republican when women’s reproductive rights are being taken away and guns are one of the top killers of children in this country. I’m not giving up my morals in some total gamble that maybe a Republican will be more telework friendly. Also, remember which party is trying to decrease the power of unions, which have a huge part in negotiating telework agreements at many agencies.

It’s just such a bizarre take to vote R over this.

1. Reproductive rights aren't changing for the better anytime soon. That battle is lost. The Supreme Court is 6-3.
2. Gun deaths are out of control in DC. What have Biden and Boswer done to prevent these gun deaths?
3. How is Biden honoring unions when he seems to believe that he can single-handedly force federal employees back to the office?

Maybe you should start demanding that Biden actually show some results for your vote.

We know that Republicans that currently lead the party will make life hell for Federal employees.
I mean, Biden should do better, but he knows we have no other real options.

Or maybe Biden is doing the right, and even the Democratic, thing. Democrats typically support urban centers and those areas are the most hurt by 100% WFH. As for the right thing, maybe WFH folks need to think about more than themselves. In fact, the world is pretty interconnected and the ramifications of urban decay can easily feed to areas where WFH folks thought they were isolated. The pandemic has made people extremely selfish.

Why the fudge should I care about issues like urban decay. Sure, "because we live in a society." But why us? No one cared to pay us enough to live there, so why is this one sided? If you want us to care now, you should have at least pretended to care about us.

I never understand selfish civil servants who don’t care about their communities. Why did you get into this line of work if you don’t care about broader issues in society?

What did DC ever do for Federal employees, besides have a horrible Metro system and charge high prices for parking? They treat us like we’re a bank account. What about the high paid lawyers and lobbyists, why not ask them for money?

DC’s metro system is one if the best in the country. Name 5 US cities with better public transit in and out of the urban center. Now we can use it to get to another airport.

Europe has long surpassed us in this respect, but DC’s metro is a plus for the city.

NP and we pay $$$ for it. Riding subways in other cities is like $2. It's triple that here.

Not in London....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think this will be kicked to individual agencies with widely ranging results. We converted a bunch of jobs to “remote only” so those folks can’t come back (easily).

Disagree. Our remote agreements are only approved for one year only, not permanently. I'm at a large cabinet level agency and I think even remote workers would be surprised to know that.

They just sunseted remote work for all SES and SL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this will be kicked to individual agencies with widely ranging results. We converted a bunch of jobs to “remote only” so those folks can’t come back (easily).

Disagree. Our remote agreements are only approved for one year only, not permanently. I'm at a large cabinet level agency and I think even remote workers would be surprised to know that.

They just sunseted remote work for all SES and SL.

Ours is permanent.

- np

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone answer me this: With the most recent managers return to office 50% mandate that came out in most agencies, was this a union thing? They couldn't force non managers back to the office because of union negotiations but they could force managers in?

Someone told me this, but I'm not sure of how true it was.

Pretty much. And it doesn't mean they can't force non-managers back, depending on the agency and bargaining agreement, it just means they have to go through the process. I think it's a matter of time in my agency, where there's already resentment that some jobs are telework-friendly (administration, research, contracting, etc) and others have to be on site (public-facing, security, maintenance).

[Anonymous]

I’m a Fed with two SN kids. Before Covid I was seriously considering leaving the workforce for a few years. WFH became a game changer.

I now work in-person 40 percent. If it’s significantly increased I may leave the workforce. Or at least find a more flexible job.

And for anyone who wonders about my productivity from home, in the past three years I’ve earned one quality step increase and two superior honor awards, so I’ve proven my worth while teleworking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the motivation? To increase productivity or just because so many office buildings are empty?

The reason is Muriel Bowzer pushed for it so that D.c.’s economy doesn’t get destroyed.

Then she needs to make sure she can accommodate all the returning commuters. The changes she made to downtown will cause major bottlenecks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it is Biden’s commercial real estate donor class.

It's more than that. DC is going to face a massive property tax shortfall if office buildings get revalued downward by 50%. CRE pays property tax rates that are 2x of DC homeowners.

It will start a services cut-tax hike spiral on the remaining residents if CRE takes a big haircut. It will be Democratic-voting big cities that will face the brunt of these revenue shortfalls. Crime will go up, schools will get worse, poverty alleviation programs get eliminated, etc.

My kid is in DPR summer camp right now at our local park. It's an amazing program and costs me $150 for two weeks for 8am-6pm daily care + all food covered. It's safe, fun, and has a good curriculum of play + art + learning. It's dirt cheap and he has fun. If CRE gets revalued down by 50%, that summer camp option gets eliminated. Or it goes up in price so much that poor and MC DC families can't afford it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is Biden’s commercial real estate donor class.

It's more than that. DC is going to face a massive property tax shortfall if office buildings get revalued downward by 50%. CRE pays property tax rates that are 2x of DC homeowners.

It will start a services cut-tax hike spiral on the remaining residents if CRE takes a big haircut. It will be Democratic-voting big cities that will face the brunt of these revenue shortfalls. Crime will go up, schools will get worse, poverty alleviation programs get eliminated, etc.

My kid is in DPR summer camp right now at our local park. It's an amazing program and costs me $150 for two weeks for 8am-6pm daily care + all food covered. It's safe, fun, and has a good curriculum of play + art + learning. It's dirt cheap and he has fun. If CRE gets revalued down by 50%, that summer camp option gets eliminated. Or it goes up in price so much that poor and MC DC families can't afford it.

So I need to go in so you can send your kid to summer camp?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is Biden’s commercial real estate donor class.

It's more than that. DC is going to face a massive property tax shortfall if office buildings get revalued downward by 50%. CRE pays property tax rates that are 2x of DC homeowners.

It will start a services cut-tax hike spiral on the remaining residents if CRE takes a big haircut. It will be Democratic-voting big cities that will face the brunt of these revenue shortfalls. Crime will go up, schools will get worse, poverty alleviation programs get eliminated, etc.

My kid is in DPR summer camp right now at our local park. It's an amazing program and costs me $150 for two weeks for 8am-6pm daily care + all food covered. It's safe, fun, and has a good curriculum of play + art + learning. It's dirt cheap and he has fun. If CRE gets revalued down by 50%, that summer camp option gets eliminated. Or it goes up in price so much that poor and MC DC families can't afford it.

DC residential property taxes are pretty low. I’d be happy to pay more in exchange for wfh.

[Anonymous]

The Biden admin just keeps pissing the wrong people off and it's going to back fire royally. They keep pushing they will see what's going to happen next election.

[Anonymous]

I won't vote for Trump but will absolutely vote for the next Republican.