ALEXANDRIA, Va. — NCUA scored better than the average federal government agency in the Office of Personnel Management's 2006 Federal Human Capital Survey, but that was not good enough for the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents NCUA employees.

Though NCUA Executive Director Len Skiles said National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley's assertions that 31.1% of respondents from NCUA disagreed with the statement that “I have a high level of respect for my organization's senior leaders,” that does not provide a complete picture of the survey's results. “In any of those areas where there are indicators where we should improve, we are going to aggressively look at those,” he said.

However, he noted that NCUA exceeded government wide averages and even those of other small agencies in several categories, including “I'm given a real opportunity to improve my skills in my organization,” where NCUA achieved 73.4% versus 62.1% government wide and 62.3% among smaller agencies.

In fact, the survey found that 67.6% responded positively to the statement, “Overall, how good a job do you feel is being done by your immediate supervisor/team leader,” the same as the average of all small agencies and above the 66.2% scored government wide.

When the study was initially released, Kelley issued a statement, saying, “When 30% or more of the employees in a given agency seriously question the policies and practices of senior management, there clearly are problems that need to be addressed.” The news release specifically cited NCUA as one of those. The group stated that federal government policies of late, including those at NCUA, are contributing to “a severe crisis of confidence in leadership at a number of agencies represented by the National Treasury Employees Union.”

NCUA employees voted a couple years ago to organize under NTEU, but a bargaining agreement has yet to be reached. –[email protected]