After 30 years under the Federal labor law, the FLRA has ruled for the first time that personnel specialists are in a bargaining unit as their work is routine.
A practitioner asks, what should go into an adverse action letter, more or less? The author provides his take on approaching the development of adverse actions from an advocate’s viewpoint and why it’s critical to remember that the people engaged in the process can be influenced by high quality work.
Do federal managers take disciplinary action only when absolutely necessary?
FLRA has a new website and, according to its Chairman, a new “season” based on “Revitalization, Reinvention, and Re-engagement”. Her message is the keynote on the cosmetically altered site. Taking on the prior Authority (of which she was a member) claiming it’s “performance, along with employee morale, had suffered” and sounding a lot like Al Gore, she wants to reinvent the FLRA but how she plans to do so is a bit hazy.
The author asks which Agencies will agree to bargaining permissive subjects if a pilot program results from an impending executive order. He suggests who might play and why as well as some risks involved to those who choose to play or are roped into doing so.
In what may prove to be the most edited document in the Obama Administration, a new version of the proposed executive order is being circulated. The new version has substantial changes from the old version including elimination of the obligation to bargain permissive subjects contained in Clinton Order and previous versions of the Obama plan.
The author calls for a critical examination of Federal labor relations instead of the draft executive order currently making the rounds in DC. He suggests it is time to look at government labor relations with an eye to its future.
The plain language of the proposed order requires Agencies to “allow employees and their union representatives pre-decisional involvement in all workplace matters”. This provision has some fairly staggering consequences if implemented. Pay very careful attention if you’re in operational management.
A draft of the proposed Executive Order on the administration’s vision of Federal labor relations has surfaced. There is a striking similarity to President Clinton’s E.O. 12871. There are also striking differences. The Author offers a side by side comparison and looks at how this new Order might play out.
As he has recently with the FLRA, the President nominated two experienced Washington Hands to fill vacancies at the Merit Systems Protection Board.
