CFPB Union confronts Director Chopra at his testimony to Congress

Chapter President Cat Farman and Vice President Jasmine Hardy traveled to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to attend the public hearing of Director Rohit Chopra to the House Financial Services Committee.

Cat and Jas agreed to meet with the Director after his testimony was finished that afternoon. After the four hour meeting wrapped up, they spoke with Director Chopra for about 5 minutes. Here is the report from Cat on what they talked about:

First off, he gave us only about 5 minutes to talk. We sat in the visitor seats in the hearing room. So we didn't even get the walk and talk - just a brief talk while he sat down and drank his water after the testimony (about the same amount of time he gave the Republican representatives he hugged and chatted with after the final questions and before acknowledging Jas and me).

He started out by asking me jokingly, "problems?" I jumped in asking if he has seen Tony Reardon's letter from last night which spells it out pretty clearly. He said he had heard about it but hadn't read it yet, because he was preparing for the hearing. He claimed he didn't understand why it was going badly and I told him I agreed, I don't understand it either, why the Bureau is refusing to bargain with us over remote work of all things.

At this point I explained the conflict (giving him the benefit of the doubt here that he "doesn't understand...") and that the root of the problem, and solutions, are simple: 1) we need the Bureau to bargain with us over remote work, which means agree on ground rules so we can schedule bargaining, NOW and 2) agree to extend the current maximum telework until we get a deal. He nodded and actually said this last part as I was saying it, so clearly he understands the conflict just fine.

I told him that Labor Relations just rejected our last offer on ground rules today so we are already requesting help from a federal mediator, and that the first mediator we contacted isn't even available for even a brief window until June. Meaning this conflict is only going to drag on without his intervention.

He took the opportunity to ask if Labor Relations and OHC were working with us any better than before, as he wanted it, and I told him that they aren't. That we know now they are just taking orders from the Deputy Director and that everyone knows it's her who is making these decisions to force a return and setting these arbitrary deadlines and refusing to come to the table.

He asked if a meeting with him would help. I told him he needs to intervene and get the ground rules signed and extend the maximum telework so we can go to the table. He again offered to meet with us to discuss more. I repeated that we need to go to the bargaining table and get remote work done without these continued threats to force people back into offices before we get an agreement. Frankly his offers to meet were a deflection, as he wasn't answering my question about whether he would intervene to get bargaining scheduled without threat of a forced return.

I explained that it makes zero sense what they are planning to do, that they are wasting Bureau resources planning a forced return meanwhile they're only going to have to change course to the new policies once we get an agreement, and the entire time they are alienating and distressing all the employees who are affected by this. If they want a CFPB Next, why are they going backwards to pre-pandemic policies, when he can just extend the current maximum telework until we get a permanent agreement, like other agencies have done?

He was kind of nodding but in the end he wouldn't commit to intervening or to going to the table, to signing the ground rules, or to extending the maximum telework. He committed to meeting with us again, next week being the earliest he is available, and that he would likely have to bring other management officials to the meeting too. I repeated that he needs to intervene to get the bargaining ground rules signed and so we can schedule bargaining and get this done. I asked why this hasn't happened yet and why this is an issue that has reached the level of dispute requiring mediation. He again offered to meet next week -- we agreed we would meet, and Jas and I shook his hand and left.

We will update you when the promised meeting is scheduled. In the meantime, you can help get management to the bargaining table and win us a fair agreement by taking action now to keep holding Chopra accountable for fixing this mess. It clearly got his attention that the Union was at the hearing! Keep up the pressure to show him we're not giving up until he and the Bureau come to the bargaining table.

This afternoon, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who is Chair of the House Financial Services Committee, announced that she had tested positive for COVID-19. Congresswoman Waters did not wear a mask during the hearing, nor did Director Chopra or many of the other congressmen and women in attendance. Luckily, Cat & Jas were wearing their N95 masks. But the recent increase in public announcements that various government officials (including the Vice President) have tested positive for COVID-19 drives home the recklessness of the Bureau’s mandatory return-to-office.