Legislation was recently reintroduced in Congress to require federal agencies to submit annual reports to Congress.
The Taxpayer-Funded Union Time Transparency Act was introduced in the House (H.R. 2297) by Congressman Scott Franklin (R-FL) and in the Senate (S. 1170) by Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA). The lawmakers previously introduced the legislation last year.
The details of the legislation are somewhat different this time around, requiring more details in the official time reports that would be required under the bill.
Specifically, the bill requires each federal agency to submit detailed annual reports disclosing:
- The total cost of official time authorized under federal law
- The purpose behind each authorization of official time
- Individual employee data, including position, pay, bonuses, benefits and the number and percentage of hours spent on union duties
- Total compensation provided for union-related work such as collective bargaining, grievance handling, mediation and arbitration
- Costs associated with travel, lodging and consultants involved in union negotiations
- The square footage and monetary value of government property or real estate provided to unions
- Any reimbursements collected by the agency for such use
- A year-over-year comparison of official time use, including justifications for any increases
Additionally, the bill requires the Government Accountability Office to conduct audits of agency practices at least once every four years to ensure compliance and adherence to generally accepted accounting principles.
Ernst said in a statement, “Bureaucrats have forgotten that they serve the American people not themselves. Taxpayers deserve to know just how much of their hard-earned money is footing the bill for the insane practice of taxpayer-funded union time. Once we figure out just how much these unions owe, I will be coming to collect every penny.”
Ernst also introduced the Protecting Taxpayers’ Wallet Act (S. 511) earlier this year which would end the use of official time.
OPM Moving Out on Restarting Official Time Reports
Part of the reason for the legislation is the fact that the Biden administration stopped publishing official time reports on the Office of Personnel Management’s website. The last available report is from fiscal year 2019.
However, OPM is moving forward with restarting the official time reports. The agency issued a memo on February 27 directing agencies to start collecting the data for the reports.
The memo contained two separate data requests, the first of which was due on March 14 and the second of which is due on April 1. The data requests required agencies to submit data on matters related to the use of official time such as a breakdown of unions’ use of official time, the amount of time used for each purpose of taxpayer-funded union time, and the total value of government property made available to labor organizations or individuals on taxpayer-funded union time.
While the official time reports will be restarted by the Trump administration, the bill seeks to codify them into law. Absent that, future administrations could direct OPM to stop publishing them.
Finding the Costs of Labor Relations Programs in Government
The reality is that nobody really knows what the cost of official time is to agencies, and not much of an effort has been made to find out. The Trump administration appears to be trying to change that, however.
In addition to the directive to agencies on compiling the data on the use of official time, OPM also has told agencies to start collecting data on the costs of their labor relations programs. The data requests included items such as total compensation paid to agency employees to negotiate collective bargaining agreements or process grievances, travel and lodging expenses paid to staff for negotiating collective bargaining agreements, and the fair market value of agency office space provided to labor unions.
The deadline for providing the data to OPM is April 18.
Why the renewed interest in the information? It is likely to build support for bills such as the Taxpayer-Funded Union Time Transparency Act.
In his analysis of OPM’s new data reporting requirements on labor relations, FedSmith author Ralph Smith recently wrote:
It is going to be difficult to pass significant legislation limiting the role of 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.
In addition to gathering more data, the Trump administration has taken even bolder approaches to restricting federal employee unions. The Department of Homeland Security took away collective bargaining rights for Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees, President Trump issued an Executive Order last week that takes away union rights for a majority of the federal workforce, and the Justice Department sued AFGE under the terms of that Executive Order to release several large agencies from their collective bargaining agreements with the union. The union has vowed to fight the changes in court.
These are major changes the administration is trying to make that ultimately will be sorted out in the courts, although unions currently have few enforcement options under the current labor relations statute.
