[This model letter may be used when in requesting an appointment by phone you are asked to fax your request and explain the reason for the meeting]

 

(Date)

 

The Honorable

United States Senate/ Congress

Washington, D.C. 20510

 

Via Facsimile: 202-

 

Dear Senator/ Congressman/ Congresswoman:

 

The purpose of my letter is to request an appointment to meet with you or the appropriate member of your staff on (give several dates that you will be available.)    I live in           .  I am an (job title/position)  in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (name office)  Office, which serves (describe geographic area).  I am also (a member or officer) of Local ______ of the National Council of EEOC Locals, No. 216, AFGE.  Local ______ represents EEOC bargaining unit employees in the (name offices).

 

The National Council and our Local _____ are urging you to make sure Chair Cari Dominguez answers some tough questions about the Agency’s $5 million request for “Workforce Repositioning,” when she testifies at EEOC’s CJS House Appropriations Oversight Hearing, scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on March 26, 2004, H-309 Capitol.  Specifically, the request, contained in the EEOC’s “FY 2005 Performance Budget,”encompasses funds for a National Contact Center, which will entrust the rights of your constituents to scripted “telemarketers.”  The request may also pay for Chair Dominguez to close or gut the offices that serve your constituents.  Finally, the request is intended to “implement management decisions” resulting from the February 2003 National Academy of Public Administration's (NAPA) report.  This report has been roundly criticized by stakeholders, EEOC managers and the Union, as well as the Senate’s CJS Appropriation’s Committee, which said of NAPA’s study: “the Committee has concerns about the impact this restructuring will have on the quality of service to the States.”  

 

We need your assistance in stripping this $5 million “repositioning” request from the EEOC’s budget.  Alternatively, the repositioning request should be itemized by project and subjected to additional oversight hearings.   More information on these issues is outlined in our talking points, which are attached.    Please contact me at (phone number) so we can confirm an appointment.  Thank you for your attention to this matter.

 

Sincerely,

 

Attachment

 

 

*   EEOC’s Restructuring Endangers Civil Rights - - Congress Must Step In!