The pay increase generated by NTEU’s long and successful effort to secure GS-12 journey status for Customs and Border Protection Officers and Agriculture Specialists is on track. (Read an FAQ from the agency on the increase.)

This is a welcome and well-deserved step forward, and NTEU is proud of having played a key role in making it a reality. We continue to fight for career ladder upgrades for other CBP employees.

You also should know that this increase is only one way NTEU continues to work hard every day to improve your pay, benefits and working conditions, and to protect your hard-won rights. Here are some other ways NTEU gets that done for employees throughout the CBP workforce:

• We have won a significant number of victories under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), ensuring the proper overtime pay for many employees.
  

• We are continuing efforts to secure appropriate staffing levels for non-uniformed positions, including Import Specialists and other groups of key and skilled employees.
  

• When a reorganization is proposed, we bargain over its impact and implementation to ensure your interests are protected.
  

• We work hard to expand opportunities throughout the workforce to participate in telework and alternative work schedules programs.
  

• Through a multi-year effort, NTEU was able to secure an enhanced LEO retirement benefit, resulting in additional money in CBPOs’ retirement annuity; we currently are working on a campaign to improve pay and retirement benefits for others, such as Seized Property Specialists.
  

• When CBP sought to unilaterally end the Foreign Language Awards Program (FLAP), NTEU worked with key members of Congress to persuade the agency to reverse that misguided decision. Because of our efforts, the significant workplace contributions you make using a second language continue to earn you an appropriate reward.
  

• NTEU fought for and won overtime credit toward CBPO retirement.
  

• Every year, NTEU leads the fight in Congress for an annual pay raise—for all CBP bargaining unit employees.
  

• On multiple occasions, NTEU has won arbitration cases putting literally millions of dollars in the hands of CBP employees. These include payments for the unpaid sixth day of training each week at FLETC, the victory overturning unilateral agency changes in your awards program and subsequent $10 million settlement, and others.  

These victories are achieved in different ways and in different places—by lobbying Congress; by convincing third-party neutral arbitrators what is right for employees; in the courts and before administrative agencies like the Federal Labor Relations Authority; and by convincing the agency to do what is best to attract and retain good employees.

Whatever method we choose, NTEU is adept at all of them, because pursuing every avenue is how NTEU continues to best protect and advance your workplace rights and your future. And our work continues, with your support.