The Honorable Judd Gregg

Chairman

Senate Commerce, Justice State and the Judiciary Appropriations Subcommittee

United States Senate

Washington, D.C. 20510

Via Facsimile: 202-224-4952

Dear Senator Gregg:

I am writing to you as a member of the National Council of EEOC Locals, No. 216, because I understand that on September 15, 2004, the Commerce, Justice and State Appropriations subcommittee will be marking up the EEOC’s budget request. Please do not include in the mark up any appropriation that would allow the EEOC to start up a national call center and to reduce field offices.

EEOC is proposing to enter into a multimillion dollar contract to route calls from the public to a privatized national call center. The operators who will answer calls will only have 7 days training in EEOC laws and have to rely on scripts. There is no need for the added budgetary expense of a separate call center operation. The way things work today is that our own experienced staff responds to calls from the public. As EEOC employees, we are the best qualified to provide advice on the laws EEOC enforces. Likewise, we know best the concerns of our own state.

EEOC’s call center plan is especially costly and risky because it will be implemented nationwide from the start. EEOC’s Regional Attorneys, who are senior managers, recommend that a call center experiment should take place in two or three offices. They state that EEOC staff could then mirror their activities in other offices, providing for a true basis of comparison.

Chair Dominguez claims that no jobs will be lost due to the call center. This is not true. Three hundred jobs have already been lost during a three year hiring freeze. More jobs will be lost if the Chair is permitted to pursue her plan to reduce 51 field offices into 10 “mega” offices. We agree with EEOC’s Repositioning Workgroup Report, dated March 3, 2004, that no business case has been made for reducing the current number of offices.

The CJS mark-up is a crucial step that will determine the EEOC's future path. Our members request restrictive language that prevents valued dollars from going to “Workforce Repositioning,” in the form of a privatized national contact center or a reduction of field offices.

Sincerely,