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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Irs, Labor Union At Odds Over Layoffs

From Staff And Wire Reports

The IRS is struggling to meet a Friday deadline on a key labor issue - how to handle layoffs of hundreds of workers. Despite months of negotiations, the agency and the workers’ union still disagree on basic issues.

The Internal Revenue Service and the National Treasury Employees Union - which represents 90,000 IRS workers must reach agreement on the layoffs by the close of business today or turn the dispute over to the Federal Service Impasses Panel. The mediation panel would then make a decision.

The IRS and the union disagree over the number of people who could lose their jobs under the agency’s downsizing. The IRS says 1,600 jobs could be lost under a “reduction in force,” while the union claims 2,100 jobs are at risk.