When a union does not respond to an agency proposal after a time, can the agency implement it? Broad action by the Education Department may answer the question.
The author says that much has been written about the number of hours of official time used by the government, but from the perspective of Congress, OPM and others. She instead suggests looking at the subject from the perspective of federal employees in the workplace.
As negotiated agreements expire and bargaining appears likely, it is vital for an Agency to take stock of the old contract and assess where it wants negotiations to go. You can be sure the union will come to the table with an agenda; the author asks whether Agency representatives have an agenda of their own and attempts to lay out a framework for development of management’s agenda.
Whenever a new term agreement or contract is negotiated, the parties generally exchange ground rules. The author offers a set of ground rules for Agencies to consider offering when getting ready to negotiate a new contract.
Since Federal unions were permitted bargaining under law, most negotiable issues are already in existing union contracts. The author suggests these unions have joined with the Obama administration in an effort to co-manage agencies and encourage the FLRA to “expand” the meaning of the statute. They appear to be succeeding.
The author asks if the TSA broke management’s obligation to remain neutral while a union vote is pending.
The Office of Personnel Management and Office of Management and Budget (on dual letterhead, the first the Author has seen) issued guidance to Agency Heads on the operation of labor management Forums and on the administrations expectations concerning the Pre-decisional role of Federal unions in Agency decision making. The Author raises a number of questions including whether this memorandum invites ethics problems for Agencies. You decide.
In what the author calls perhaps the wackiest decision in the history of Federal labor relations, the FLRA decides to allow the election of a union to represent TSA officers with no collective bargaining permitted.
The author requested and received FLRA’s training materials used to train participants in pilot programs in which parties will bargain agency permissive topics. These pilots dramatically expand union bargaining rights. It’s unclear what authorizes union representatives’ official time for this training or authorizes FLRA to train the representatives of a non-governmental entity for free. You decide.
However the political winds blow, negotiators representing a Federal Agency have the responsibility to advance the Agency’s interests at the bargaining table. The author offers some thoughts for those in Agencies opting into the B(1) Pilot or drawn into such optional bargaining by political leadership.
