american federation of government employees

Unions at the Social Security Administration say the Baltimore-based agency is now complying with a federal judge’s decision concluding that executive orders issued in May by President Donald Trump violated federally approved rights.

By Jeff Barker

Aug 30, 2018

Fort McHenry will close. You can still tour the Naval Academy, but not its museum. If, like two indicted Baltimore police detectives, you are scheduled for trial at U.S. District Court in Baltimore on Monday, the wheels of justice will grind on despite the federal government shutdown.

By Jean Marbella

Jan 20, 2018

Legislation to temporarily fund the federal government and avert a shutdown passed in the House Thursday evening, though its prospects remain uncertain in the Senate.

Congress returns to Washington on Tuesday facing a full plate of muss-past measures.

By John Fritze

Sep 2, 2017

Congress narrowly avoided a government shutdown Friday by approving an extension of spending authority that will keep federal employees on the job for at least

By John Fritze

Apr 28, 2017

Lawmakers return to Capitol Hill today facing the prospect of a government shutdown by the end of the week, and a politically perilous decision on whether to attempt another overhaul of the health insurance law known as Obamacare.

By John Fritze

Apr 24, 2017

White House asks federal agencies to plan for reductions

By John Fritze

Apr 11, 2017

In one of his first acts, President Donald J. Trump on Monday declared a hiring freeze for non-military federal workers, fulfilling a key campaign promise in what could be the first step toward a broader downsizing of the government workforce.

Federal workers in Maryland and across the nation are bracing for reductions in head counts, civil service protections and salaries when President-elect Donald Trump and Congress turn their attention to government spending later this year.

By John Fritze

Jan 7, 2017

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which has struggled to eliminate a backlog of disability claims, is planning to outsource more of the medical exams that are key to determining benefits.

By Ian Duncan

Oct 4, 2016

Polling has long indicated that Americans don't think very highly of Washington.

By John Fritze

Sep 28, 2016

Rep. Harris voted to cripple the Social Security Administration — and cut the pay of his constituents.

The 56-year-old Woodlawn headquarters of the Social Security Administration will receive a $150 million overhaul to remove dangerous lead paint and asbestos, rip out corroded plumbing and modernize the 10-story building for 21st-century technology.

By Yvonne Wenger

Jan 15, 2016

Republicans think the federal government should do less. Democrats think it should do more. But both agree it should be doing a lot better, a new poll says.

By Michael Dresser

Dec 5, 2015

Federal workers earn about 65 cents for every dollar earned by their private-sector counterparts, according to an advisory panel to the federal government. Or they make $1.78 for every private sector dollar, according to a Cato Institute economist.

By Erin Cox

Nov 30, 2015

An increasing number of federal workers are getting help from the government in paying back their student loans.

By Pamela Wood

Oct 24, 2015

The leaders of the two largest unions for federal employees are bracing for fights in the coming months with a "very hostile" Congress over pay, benefits and job security.

By Pamela Wood

Sep 8, 2015

Lawmakers return to Capitol Hill this week for a whirlwind session that will bring votes on Iran and government funding amid an unwieldy presidential election that threatens to amplify partisan bickering and complicate everything else.

By John Fritze

Sep 5, 2015

Mary E. Marshall, a union official with the American Federation of Government Employees who chronicled the life of a free African American family that dated to the 18

By Frederick N. Rasmussen

Jul 30, 2015

U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer said Friday that thorny questions need to be worked out for how to help federal workers affected by a data breach -- including what it will cost to provide credit monitoring and to fix the government's computer systems.

By Pamela Wood

Jul 24, 2015

When Raymond Jacobson saw an email from the federal Office of Personnel Management informing him that his Social Security number and other personal information had likely been stolen in what is believed to be the largest cyberattack in U.S. history, he wasn't too surprised.

A leading federal employee union filed a class action lawsuit on Monday against the U.S. Office of Personnel Management over the massive hack of government data, alleging that the agency was negligent because it failed to heed warnings about its cyber security defenses.

By John Fritze

Jun 29, 2015

Hackers based in China may have obtained personnel data on as many as 4 million federal employees in a large-scale cyberattack uncovered this spring, administration officials said Thursday.

A push to expand online services at the Social Security Administration is meeting resistance from a federal union that represents thousands of agency employees and groups that fear the effort will minimize face-to-face help for seniors and the disabled.

By John Fritze

Apr 30, 2015

Federal employees are once again bracing for cuts to their paychecks as the Republican-controlled Congress slowly moves toward an agreement on a federal budget, setting up a confrontation that is likely to remain in place for much of the year.

By John Fritze

Apr 4, 2015

Senate leaders moved toward a deal Wednesday to avoid a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, sidestepping a fight over immigration policy. President Barack Obama, meanwhile, declared his administration would curtail deportation of immigrants despite a loss in court earlier this month.

A political brawl over funding the Department of Homeland Security is troubling local officials in Maryland, who rely on millions of dollars in grants from the agency to pay for firefighter gear, emergency planning and training.

By John Fritze

Feb 14, 2015

Federal workers would be entitled to six weeks of paid leave for the birth or adoption of a child under legislation introduced Monday by several House Democrats – a long shot effort that comes a week after President Barack Obama called for the benefit for millions of Americans.

By John Fritze

Jan 26, 2015

Facing an aging population and steady growth in disability claims, the Social Security Administration said Thursday it will expand hours at neighborhood offices across the country — reversing a years-long reduction in service that has frustrated the public and lawmakers.

By John Fritze

Jan 22, 2015

The people who run the federal government in Washington are whiter, richer, more educated and more liberal than the rest of the country -- which can create a troubling gap between those who govern and those who are governed, according to two Johns Hopkins University political scientists.

By Pamela Wood

Oct 28, 2014

Fatalities in the federal workplace climbed last year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, even as the number of workplace deaths in the United States fell.

By Lorraine Mirabella

Oct 28, 2014

Hiring by Maryland's largest employer — the federal government — has fallen by more than 40 percent nationally over four years, and the state's jobs market is feeling the pain.

Federal employees will be allowed to carry money on their health savings accounts into the next year following a months-long lobbying effort by Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland and other lawmakers in the region.

A ruling by a federal judge in a lawsuit filed by federal employees over the government shutdown last fall has given the workers hope that they could soon be eligible for a payout.

In recent weeks, Southwest Airlines — the largest carrier at Baltimore's "easy come, easy go"-branded airport — has run into major peak-hour congestion problems, with summer vacationers tripping over business travelers in ticketing and security lines.

The Coast Guard has rescinded a plan to hire contractors to manage an increased workload at a facility in West Virginia after the American Federation of Government Employees complained that doing so would violate federal law.

The Office of Personnel Management has been working on rules for a phased retirement plan for federal employees for more than two years, and lawmakers are getting anxious.

A one-of-a-kind deal between the federal government and a cash-strapped Maryland university was supposed to deliver big benefits for both agencies. But interest so far has been minimal, with only about 300 federal workers nationwide signed up for online courses this summer. Advocates for the new program are not daunted.

President Obama's nominee to lead the Social Security Administration will face tough questioning from lawmakers at her confirmation hearing, experts predict — and many of the hardest queries could come from members of her own party.

The real lesson of the IRS scandal is the rise of the self-interested bureaucratic class, Jonah Goldberg writes.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Friday will formally nominate Carolyn W. Colvin to head the Social Security Administration, where she has served as acting commissioner since last year.