National Weather Service Employees Organization

The National Weather Service Employees Organization, known as the NWSEO, is the labor organization and professional association that represents 4,000 employees of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce, including:

• The forecasters, technicians and support personnel of the National Weather Service, America's official source for weather forecasts and warnings;
• The attorneys in NOAA’s Office of General Counsel, who are responsible for enforcing laws that protect America's environment and natural resources;
• The civilian crews of the Hurricane Hunter aircraft based in Tampa, Florida;
• The technicians who track and command America's weather satellites from Wallops Island, Virginia; and
• The hurricane researchers and other scientists and support personnel at the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory in Key Biscayne, Florida.

Overview

NWSEO is the only organization with the ability to lobby Congress and the Administration to preserve NWS jobs, promote better working conditions and career promotions for NWS, and participate in collective bargaining. The diligent work of the NWSEO produced these top five recent accomplishments to enhance the working conditions of National Weather Service employees.

1. Launched a successful communications campaign to keep the National Weather Service fully funded for the remainder of FY11. NWSEO communications included working with media on a national level, letter-writing campaigns to key legislators, and the creation of the Protect the National Weather Service Facebook group (with over 70,000 members) to support fully funding the NWS. These efforts helped maintain critical weather forecasts and warnings.
2. Saved the CWSUs from consolidation, preserving aviation safety and NWS jobs. NWSEO spent over $200,000 in this five year lobbying effort and obtained the support of the Senate Commerce Committee, the House Science Committee and the House and Senate Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Subcommittees
3. Securing back pay for overtime for nearly 200 NWS employees. Securing FLSA Non-Exempt status for more than 180 NWS employees. The NWS has agreed to pay two years’ lost overtime wages and liquidated damages for those employees, as well.
4. NWSEO secured an agreement that upgrades to a GS -8 every Administrative Support Assistant at field offices around the country. The GS - 8 upgrade includes approximately one million dollars in extra pay and benefits to the lowest paid NWS employees each and every year from now on.
5. Secured the National Weather Service Health Club and Wellness Services Fee Reimbursement Program – NWS employees can have their health club membership fees reimbursed through this NWSEO negotiated program.

Organization

President

Dan Sobien became NWSEO President in 2005 after serving three years as Executive Vice President of the organization. Mr. Sobien is an expert in the areas of marine meteorology, air-sea interaction and coastal flooding. He has published several scientific papers on those topics. Dan started his career in the National Weather Service in 1991. He became an activist in the late 1990s to help hold off funding cuts to the National Hurricane Center and the NWS’s Southern Region.

Executive Vice President

William Hopkins was elected Executive Vice President of NWSEO in 2005 after serving as the NWSEO Southern Region Chair.

Regional Chairs

NWSEO Leadership includes eight regional chairs including a chair for the NESDIS Wallops Office, and the NOAA Attorneys Guild Officers. Each Regional Chair is responsible for representing their region at the Spring Council Meeting and NWSEO Annual Convention, labor relations and communicating labor issues with the union.

External links

• NWSEO homepage

Please visit the NWSEO created Facebook group: Protect the National Weather Service at the following link: [1]