Negotiability and Impasse: Critical Agency Decision Point
Federal unions are trying a tactic to keep otherwise non-negotiable proposals on the bargaining table. In this article, the Author discusses how an Agency might counter such moves.
Federal unions are trying a tactic to keep otherwise non-negotiable proposals on the bargaining table. In this article, the Author discusses how an Agency might counter such moves.
The FLRA has announced a series of Town Meetings that practitioners should consider attending. On a sad note, a Federal labor relations giant passes.
In Friday’s (May 4, 2012) Federal Register, the Federal Labor Relations Authority announced that, beginning June 4, 2012, parties will be able to e-file in a number of proceedings before the Authority using the Authority’s e-Filing system.
In a case involving FLRA’s appropriate arrangement theory, abrogation theory and its new regulations on arbitration appeals, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals dealt the agency a sharp rebuke saying that it had issued a contrary ruling to its own prior decision on the same facts in the same Agency involving the same issue.
The statutory right of an agency head to review an agreement before it is implemented has been eliminated by the FLRA. The case is now going to court.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals told the FLRA it deserved deference in the interpretation of the federal labor law but exceeded its authority when it interpreted a law the Air Force was charged to administer.
Cheeks must still sting at FLRA after a hard slapping by the DC Circuit finding “the Authority endorsed an incoherent arbitral award and embraced an unreasonably narrow view of what the Master Agreement ‘covers.’ “
Recent articles have indicated that federal employees are not represented by unions that negotiate wages. Is this true?
The author discusses the potential harm a recent FLRA decision will do to collective bargaining.
Groucho Marx said “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies.” In a recent arbitration appeal, the FLRA reversed itself over an issue involving an agreement made by political direction with the union in the waning days of the Clinton Administration. The current Chairman, a member when the original case was decided did not dissent then but now gives the union not only a second bite of the apple but, arguably, the whole bushel. Is it a holiday gift? You decide.