What is Going on in Federal Labor Relations?
Dealing with unions does not impact most federal employees. If a union represents employees in an agency, the union usually negotiates an agreement and it applies to all bargaining unit members. The reality is that the federal program is unlike management and unions in the private sector.
Agency-wide regulations are not subject to negotiation. If the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) or another relevant agency issues a regulation that applies to the federal workforce, it applies to all agencies. Some details are different as the union can negotiate the program’s impact of the regulatory requirement or other minor aspects. The actual program goes into effect everywhere in government.
Congress determines wages and benefits. A union can spend time and money and lobby Congress for greater benefits, but the actual decision on these important financial issues is made outside the control of the agency (there are a few exceptions). Most employees probably do not regularly interact with a union other than perhaps going to occasional meetings. Some employees obviously pay dues to a union—particularly if they think they may be subject to an adverse or disciplinary action.
Cost of Labor Relations Programs
While a union does not directly negotiate the most significant financial aspects of federal employment, what is the cost to an agency to run the labor relations program?
While that is an obvious question, no one really knows. In fact, no administration has tried to find out. Most administrations at least tried to calculate the cost of employees leaving their government jobs to work on union business (official time). The collection of this data was haphazard and inconsistent, and even with that, any attempt to collect and tally the cost of official time was eliminated during the Biden administration as a favor to the unions who strongly supported the administration and donated to his election campaign.
The Trump administration is taking a different approach. Perhaps because a person who has run a business has to know the cost of doing business to survive. A government program is different.
In this case, Congress passed a law providing official time for federal employees to leave their federal jobs for a time to work for a union, with some limitations. Congress provides the money. The actual cost of the labor relations program has never been calculated. Presumably, the answer will be it costs a great deal of money to run such a large program throughout the government.
President Trump took several executive actions in his first administration to tamp down union activity. That did not last long. When President Biden took office, he promptly negated any Trump executive orders that had a negative impact on union activity.
In his second term, it is clear President Trump is taking a different approach. How much difference it makes remains to be seen. Based on what has happened so far, the administration has taken a less aggressive approach in dealing with the unions but it has started to make changes much earlier and much more aggressively. This low-key approach does not indicate that the objective of negating their influence has changed—it is more likely that the president wants the changes to be permanent.
Instead of issuing executive orders to reduce the impact of unions, OPM is collecting data on labor relations. It has told agencies to collect and report on the cost of official time. That is one aspect of the labor relations program but probably a small aspect even though the cost of official time is hundreds of millions of dollars per year.
Labor Relations Information Now Required by OPM
This week, OPM directed agencies to start collecting and providing the cost of their labor relations program. The directive is specific, complete with templates for agencies to fill out on the financial cost of this program for each agency.
OPM is now directing agencies to provide an extensive list of data. Here is the list.
The total compensation paid to agency employees (including employees on official time) to:
- Negotiate collective bargaining agreements (CBAs);
- Negotiate midterm agreements;
- Process grievances pursuant to grievance-arbitration provisions in CBAs; and
- Engage in mediation, arbitration, and impasse resolution in connection with collective bargaining disputes.
That is not all. OPM is also asking agencies for:
- Total fees paid to arbitrators hearing grievances pursuant to grievance-arbitration provisions in CBAs;
- Travel and lodging expenses for agency staff and union staff paid or reimbursed with tax dollars to negotiate collective bargaining agreements;
- Expenses paid for retaining experts to assist in CBA negotiations;
- Expenses paid for factfinders, mediators, and arbitrators to settle collective bargaining disputes;
- Costs of administrative support and purchasing supplies for bargaining, monitoring, and administering CBAs;
- Costs of acquiring and using technology for bargaining, monitoring, and administrating collectively bargained agreements;
- The fair market value of agency office space provided to labor unions;
- Penalties levied related to collective bargaining with labor unions, including but not limited to arbitration awards or monetary settlements provided to workers or unions related to collective bargaining;
- All CBAs currently in force at the agency; and
- With respect to each CBA currently in force:
- a. The date the CBA was executed and its scheduled expiration date;
- b. How long was spent negotiating each CBA, broken out by each stage of the negotiation (i.e., ground rules bargaining, substantive bargaining, impasse proceedings).
- With respect to any midterm negotiations that occurred in FY 2024, the date such negotiations were commenced and the date such negotiations concluded (including any applicable impasse proceedings), or the fact that such negotiations remain ongoing.
OPM is asking for all the information by April 18, 2025. The actual document includes templates for information as of September 30, 2024.
What About Official Time? What Is It and Why Does It Exist?
The practice of granting official time to federal employees for union-related work is authorized and regulated under 5 U.S.C. § 7131, part of Chapter 71 of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute. This statute guarantees official time for specific representational activities, such as negotiating collective bargaining agreements and participating in proceedings before the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA), provided the activities are reasonable, necessary, and in the public interest.
In its latest available report on official time, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) defined official time as:
“Official time,” as authorized by 5 U.S.C. § 7131, is paid time spent by Federal employees performing representational work for a bargaining unit in lieu of their regularly assigned work. In other words, the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) has equated official time to be the same as work time or hours of work.
The labor relations statute has several provisions that grant and also limit “official time”.
- Negotiation of Collective Bargaining Agreements: Employees representing unions during negotiations are guaranteed official time while in duty status.
- Internal Union Business Exclusion: Activities related to internal union management, such as elections or dues collection, must be performed during non-duty hours.
- Additional Official Time: Agencies and unions can negotiate additional official time for other representational activities, such as handling grievances or attending agency meetings, as long as it meets statutory criteria.
What is the Game Plan?
It is going to be difficult to pass significant legislation limiting the role of unions in the federal government. There is a slim majority for Republicans in the House and the Senate. With the mutual allegiance between Democrats and federal employee unions, it is unlikely any Democrats would vote in favor of legislation that restricts unions or bans unions in the federal government.
If the administration can compile a report showing an impressive amount of money being spent supporting the federal labor relations program, perhaps in the hundreds of billions per year, the information could be used to increase support of legislation to meet a possible objective of restricting unions in the federal government.
If there is a massive expenditure for running the program, this could provide leverage to sway public opinion and support lobbying efforts to sway undecided lawmakers or pressure vulnerable Democrats in swing districts.
The budget reconciliation process may also be under consideration. This would involve using reconciliation procedures to bypass the Senate filibuster if union-related provisions are tied to budgetary measures. This approach has strict limitations and would probably not apply to non-budgetary aspects of union legislation.
Another approach would be to moderate bargaining using administrative pressure, including executive orders, to restrict union activity. This would be an attempt to negotiate with moderate Democrats or independents to secure bipartisan support by framing union restrictions as fiscal responsibility measures while also applying pressure on unions—probably by restricting official time use as unnecessary or contrary to law or requiring rent on union office space.
Summary
The reality is that any game plan by the administration to substantially reduce or possibly eliminate union activity in the federal government can be analyzed but is mostly guesswork based on activities taken during the first Trump administration.
It may also be that no decisions will be made or actions taken until all of the data have been collected and analyzed as to how to proceed to achieve the best possible results of improving government efficiency and government optimization.
While the details of any plan to restrict union activity have not been articulated for the government community, the direction, and the initial approach are clear. No doubt, a number of the Trump administration’s actions will be used in concert to try and meet objectives the administration may have created for this program.
