Union Wins As HUD Cancels Last 2 Furlough Days

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

Workers at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) won’t be furloughed on August 16 and 30, thanks to their union. AFGE Council 222 had filed a grievance against HUD for spending money on buy-outs, relocations and field office reconfigurations, while furloughing employees in violation of the Furlough Memorandum of Understanding between HUD and Council 222. “The need for cost savings due to Sequestration and HUD's expenditures on buy-outs, relocations, and contracts just didn't add up,” Council 222 President Eddie Eitches said. “Thanks to the union's hard work, HUD has agreed to cancel the two remaining furlough days scheduled for this fiscal year,” said AFGE 476 President Ashaki Robinson-Johns, warning that “Continued solidarity is needed to ensure we don't suffer furloughs in 2014.”