Washington Post, 5/12/05

 

Union Faults EEOC Plan

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A federal union yesterday faulted a plan to reorganize field offices in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, saying that the agency should hold a public hearing to debate the reorganization plan.

 

Cari M. Dominguez , the EEOC chairman, announced Tuesday that she plans to overhaul the agency's field structure and will cut the number of district directors by a third. She has called a commission meeting for Monday to vote on the reorganization.

 

The president of the National Council of EEOC Locals, a part of the American Federation of Government Employees, called on Dominguez to reschedule the meeting and wait until the civil rights community has had a chance to review the reorganization.

 

"With the stroke of a pen, the commission can change the forum to a public hearing, which invites the public to testify and provide written comments," said Gabrielle Martin , the union president.

 

Martin said the reorganization does not address staffing shortfalls, "which the agency admits are resulting in an exploding backlog of cases."