The Office of Personnel Management released a report Thursday on the use of official time at federal agencies in fiscal 2016, stating that the amount of paid time used by union officials for representational duties had increased by 4.12 percent since fiscal 2014.

In a press release accompanying the report, OPM officials assailed the practice, in which federal employees are compensated for their work on behalf of the union for representational matters, calling it “taxpayer funded union time” that does not serve the public interest.

“In other words, official time is treated as work time, thus is funded by the American taxpayers while no service to the taxpayer is performed,” OPM wrote.

The report found that in fiscal 2016, union employees… [for more, click here]

Do you agree with OPM officials that ” official time is treated as work time, thus is funded by the American taxpayers while no service to the taxpayer is performed”? Why or why not? Use examples from your agency to support your opinion.