June 8, 2000 INS and National Immigration and Naturalization Service Council Sign 3-Year Collective Bargaining Agreement WASHINGTON – The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the National Immigration and Naturalization Service Council (NINSC) today signed a new collective bargaining agreement. The agreement covers the working relations between INS and NINSC and the personnel policies, practices and working conditions of more than 15,000 INS employees over the next three years. INS Commissioner Doris M. Meissner, Bobby L. Harnage, President of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), AFL-CIO, and Charles J. Murphy, President of the NINSC, AFGE, signed the agreement. The new agreement covers approximately half of the INS workforce; Border Patrol and INS professional employees are represented by two other AFGE unions. "This new agreement shows that labor-management relations in government can work," Commissioner Meissner said. "In only four weeks of negotiations, the commitment of labor and management to work together resulted in a balanced document and bodes well for our future cooperative efforts." Mr. Harnage said, "This new agreement represents a new day in labor relations between the Service and AFGE. We look forward to continuing our cooperative efforts under this new contract." Mr. Murphy said, "Much of this agreement was achieved through a mutual understanding that both parties had underlying interests that needed to be met and through a successful reliance on interest-based approaches." – INS –