May 5^th Demonstration at DOE

The Coalition Of Federal Employees (COFE), working with the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) Local 213 representing headquarters employees at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), organized a demonstration for May 5^th, 1999, at the Forrestal Building. The demonstration was called to protest issues surrounding "the New Buddy System" resulting in millions annually in wasted tax dollars from the violation of both rules and the rights of Federal employees. COFE's concern was and is with stopping discrimination and favoritism and the adverse effects this has upon both the Department's workforce and the public's interest.

The immediate issues prompting a demonstration arose because of long-standing problems in the Department combined with a pressing situation of one employee who had been improperly supervised, disciplined, and penalized without redress even after the Secretary of Energy issued a direct order to senior officials of the Department. The employee, a grade 15 senior official, was being improperly supervised by a grade 13 analyst on detail to the Department from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). That grade 13 supervisor both improperly gave the grade 15 employee an unsatisfactory performance rating for the year (when an advisory rating of "outstanding" had been given for the first 8 months of the year) and then placed the employee on AWOL status and ordered the timekeeper to put him on Leave Without Pay for 2 weeks for which he had a certified medical leave on file with various offices of the Department, including the Office of Personnel and the Office of Civil Rights. When this situation had not been corrected for almost 2 months after the Secretary of Energy had issued a direct order, COFE decided to demonstrate to voice objections to this and similar situations that for far too long have been tolerated or permitted in the Department.

The original demonstration was planned by COFE, and the NTEU was invited to be a partner. Ellis Maupin, president of Local Chapter 213, agreed and committed the union to providing publicity, signs, and union members to demonstrate. Arrangements for the demonstration were made by COFE and the Office of the Secretary was notified. Upon hearing about the plans, Secretary of Energy Richardson apparently directed various members of his Secretarial appointees, particularly black political appointees, to try and stop the demonstration. He himself asked that it be canceled. COFE stated that the demonstration was not directed against Secretary Richardson, but was in support of his own policies of diversity and change to bring about reform and compliance with laws and rules in the Department. Secretary Richardson nonetheless asked Deputy Secretary T.J. Glauthier to meet with demonstration organizers to try and find a way to call it off.

That meeting was held on May 4^th, the day before the planned demonstration. Deputy Secretary Glauthier, the Secretary's Chief of Staff LeeAnn Inadomi, and a Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary for Employee Relations John Robinson attended and discussed the various appointments and actions of the Secretary to address an array of problems. When the Deputy Secretary was asked directly what he would do to address the immediate situation of the employee placed on LWOP and improperly supervised by an FBI analyst on detail to the Department, he responded that he didn't have the facts of that situation and would have to study them. He gave no time frame for either a response or action. Moreover, he stated that a new temporary director of the Office of Civil Rights would be starting to work the following week and suggested giving him a month to review the situation in the Office of Civil Rights and then scheduling a meeting with COFE and NTEU to discuss their concerns "on June 17^th or 18^th. John Robinson also stated that if the planned demonstration was not called off, "it would be more difficult to get Secretary Richardson to issue a statement to Senior Staff" in support of his various diversity efforts. When Mr. Robinson was asked if that was a threat, he immediately back-pedaled and said he didn't want to be misrepresenting the Secretary.

After that meeting, the demonstration organizers, including COFE and NTEU, met and discussed the results. Everyone agreed that nothing of substance had been offered, and the outcome was the same as had occurred on repeated occasions in the past with other Secretaries. In particular, as was stated to Deputy Secretary Glauthier, Secretaries and their appointees come and go, but career officials in the New Buddy System continue to violate rules and rights without being held accountable. That lack of accountability, when subordinates are disciplined and even terminated for lesser offenses, or no real offense at all, is precisely what the demonstration was meant to protest. Since no immediate action was taken or promised, COFE decided that there was no reason to cancel or postpone the demonstration. The NTEU agreed with that decision, although arguing for more conciliation. Additionally, Ellis Maupin stated that he had gotten several pages from National NTEU President Tobias, whom he expected would tell him to cancel the NTEU's participation. The collective decision on the evening of May 4^th, however, by both COFE and the NTEU was to proceed with the demonstration.

It is important to understand that NTEU had not called the demonstration and could not cancel the demonstration. NTEU could choose to participate or not, but had been verbally supportive, by the statements of Ellis Maupin, right up to the evening of May 4^th. Upon arriving on the morning of May 5^th, COFE found that Ellis Maupin had issued a statement claiming that the demonstration had been called off, and instead a forum would be held in the Forrestal auditorium, jointly sponsored by NTEU, the Women in Energy Chapter of Federally Employed Women (WE-FEW), and the Office of the Secretary, with participation by the Deputy Secretary planned. NTEU had also notified most union members by e-mail of this claim. COFE proceeded with the demonstration, knowing that the numbers participating would then be low because of these actions by Ellis Maupin in releasing false information. It has been reported also that a number of people who still wanted to demonstrate during their lunch period were told by guards that they could only participate if they were on official leave.

In reviewing the actions of Ellis Maupin leading up to the issuance of the false claim that the demonstration was canceled, a number of other questionable statements or actions became apparent. Ellis Maupin contacted the keynote speaker for the demonstration, sports entrepreneur and rights activist Rock Newman, on May 4^th and told him that the demonstration had been canceled. Rock Newman came and spoke at the demonstration on May 5^th. Ellis Maupin claimed the signs he was securing for the demonstration were costing between $3,000 and $6,000 for approximately 40 to 50 signs. COFE supplied its own signs for less than $100. Ellis Maupin never actually provided signs, although he claimed they were already made on Tuesday, and he never said where COFE could pick them up in order to expedite delivery. Ellis Maupin purportedly told the union membership that he arranged meetings with Secretary Richardson and Deputy Secretary T.J. Glauthier. Those meetings were arranged by either Blacks In Government (BIG) or COFE, and through the insistence of COFE members, Secretary Richardson finally spoke directly to Ellis Maupin in a telephone call on May 4^th.

Besides making numerous misrepresentations, Ellis Maupin was also apparently asked during the forum on May 5^th what he was paid to stop the demonstration. We do not know the answer to that, but find it curious that on May 6^th, Ellis Maupin's name suddenly appeared on the list of people to accompany the Secretary on his scheduled trip to Ghana. It is unknown what role the union president would have on such a trip, or why he was suddenly added the day after he had worked to sabotage a demonstration publicizing legitimate employee concerns, called in lawful exercise of freedom of speech, and protesting on behalf of labor rights, among other things.

COFE is not a union. It is an organization dedicated to defending rights and promoting change to secure justice for Federal employees in support of public accountability and good government for citizens and taxpayers. It was formed because many Federal employees are either excluded from the bargaining unit or, if eligible, are poorly represented by their local union chapter. COFE believes that truth should prevail on behalf of employees and the public, and therefore does not favor or oppose either agency leadership or union representatives. All parties should be held accountable to the legal and ethical standards of public service, respecting the rights of employees and citizens, carrying out the missions of their agencies and the laws and rules of the United States of America. It is only on this consistent basis that the interests of the taxpaying public can best be protected. On that basis, COFE will make a consistent practice of presenting the facts as they become known to us so that employees and the public alike can decide for themselves what the truth is.