Click on this link for a list of Labor-Management relations terms, compiled by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM): Labor-Management Relations Glossary
     

Below is a glossary of terms for use by NFFE Local 1998 Union representatives.  

Section 7103(a)(3) defines "agency" as "an Executive agency (including a nonappropriated fund instrumentality described in section 2105(c) of [title 5 of the United States Code] and the Veterans' Canteen Service, Department of Veterans Affairs), the Library of Congress, the Government Printing Office, and the Smithsonian Institution, but does not include" the General Accounting Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Federal Labor Relations Authority, the Federal Service Impasses Panel, or the United States Secret Service and the United States Secret Service Uniformed Division.

Requirement that negotiated agreements be reviewed for

legal sufficiency by the head of the agency (or his/her designee). § 7114(c)(1). This

must be accomplished within 30 days from the date the agreement is executed. §

7114(c)(2). If disapproved, the union can challenge those determinations by filing a

negotiability petition or an unfair labor practice (ULP) charge with FLRA. If not

approved or disapproved within that time, the agreement goes into effect and the legality

and enforceability of its terms is decided in other forums (e.g., grievance or unfair labor

practice proceedings). § 7114(c)(3). During the 30-day period the incumbent union is

protected from challenge by a rival union. 5 CFR 2422.12(c).

A requirement that all employees in the unit pay dues or fees to the

union to defray the costs of providing representation. In 1 FLRA No. 64 the Authority

held that § 7102 prohibits agency shop requirements. See also, 22 FLRA No. 57, 38

FLRA No. 57, and 44 FLRA No. 8. Compare with 56 FLRA No. 157 (requiring the

agency to deduct $2.00 from each biweekly paycheck of each bargaining unit employee

who has not joined the union unless the employee requests that a deduction not be made

is contrary to 5 CFR 550.312(a)).

One of three § 7106(b) exceptions to § 7106(a)

management rights. Under § 7106(b)(3) a proposal that interferes with management's

rights can nonetheless be mandatorily negotiable if the proposal constitutes an

"arrangement" for employees adversely affected by the exercise of a management right

and if the interference with the management right isn't "excessive" (as determined by an

"excessive interference " balancing test). See, e.g., American Federation of Government

Employees v. Federal Labor Relations Authority, 702 F.2d 1183 (D.C. Cir. 1983) and 21

FLRA No. 4. For more on this exception, see the remarks under management rights.

An impartial third party to whom the parties to an agreement refer

their disputes for resolution. Section 7121(b)(1)(C)(iii) mandates that negotiated

grievance procedures provide for binding arbitration of unsettled grievances.

Most commonly labor arbitrators perform grievance arbitration--i.e., they interpret and

apply the terms of the agreement (including established practices) and, in the Federal

sector, laws and regulations (see applicable laws, above) bearing on conditions of

employment. But they are also occasionally asked to perform interest arbitration--i.e.,

they resolve bargaining impasses by dictating the terms of the agreement.

Lists of qualified labor arbitrators are provided, upon request and for a fee, by the

American Arbitration Association (AAA) and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation

Service (FMCS). Nothing, however, prevents the parties to an exclusive recognition

relationship from creating their own panels of arbitrators from whatever sources they

agree are appropriate.

Collective bargaining agreements (CBA's) take many forms, e.g., term agreements, midterm agreements, memoranda of understanding (MOU), basic agreements, supplemental agreements, oral agreements, side agreements, and past practices. Section 7103(a)(9) defines a collective bargaining agreement as "an agreement entered into as a result of collective bargaining pursuant to the provisions of this chapter."  CBAs set forth some of the conditions of employment of unit employees, various rights and obligations of the parties to the agreement (i.e., the exclusive representative and the activity or agency), the negotiated grievance procedure, dues withholding provisions, reopeners, as well as the duration of the agreement. CBAs cannot contain provisions that interfere with management rights (unless they are § 7106(b)(3) "appropriate  arrangements," or § 7106(b)(1) "permissive subjects of bargaining " on which management has "elected" to bargain), nor even restate agency or Governmentwide  regulations that interfere with (i.e., place restrictions on the exercise of) management rights, for that would give them an existence independent of the regulations. (See, e.g., 19 FLRA No. 24, #3 (RIF regulations) and 47 FLRA No. 79, #1 (performance regulations)). However, see 38 FLRA No. 89, #1, where the Authority held that a proposal requiring the agency to establish and administer a drug testing program in

accordance with the Constitution, laws, rules, regulations, and the contract, interfered

with the right to determine internal security practices, but still was negotiable because it

was an appropriate arrangement under § 7106(b)(3). 

Since the most important conditions of employment for most employees covered by the

Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute are established by laws and

regulations, many of the conditions of employment one finds in CBAs are paraphrases,

restatements, and/or selected quotations of those laws and regulations and, to the extent

the laws and regulations give the agency discretion over the matter and the matter is

otherwise negotiable (e.g., not in conflict with management rights), agreed-upon

supplements to those laws and regulations. Negotiated agreements are subject to agency

head review for legal sufficiency. § 7114(c)(1).

Refusing to put an agreement into writing is a unfair labor practice (ULP). §

7103(a)(12). Although disputes over the meaning and application of the CBA normally

are processed through the agreement's grievance-arbitration procedures, some types of

violations can also be processed by the Authority under its unfair labor practice

procedures. See, e.g., 21 FLRA No. 117; 22 FLRA No. 25; compare with 15 FLRA No.

132. See 51 FLRA No. 72 for a description of the analytical framework that FLRA uses

to determine whether there has been a repudiation of the agreement--i.e., whether (1) the

breach was clear and patent and (2) the provision breached went to the heart of the

agreement. Also see 52 FLRA Nos. 22 and 42. Under section 7116(d), “issues which

can be raised under a grievance procedure may, in the discretion of the aggrieved party,

be raised under the grievance procedure or as an unfair labor practice under [§ 7116], but

not under both procedures.” See 52 FLRA No. 62 (grievance barred because the issue

was the same as in an earlier-filed ULP charge) and compare with 52 FLRA No. 37 (no

bar because the unfair labor practice issue is not the same as the negotiated grievance

procedure issue).

An expired agreement's provisions dealing with mandatory subjects of bargaining remain

in effect. Provisions dealing with "permissive" subjects, on the other hand, can be

unilaterally terminated. See 4 FLRA No. 100, 6 FLRA No. 9, 14 FLRA No. 89, and 15

FLRA No. 21. In 55 FLRA No. 37, FLRA said the following about terminating

permissive subjects: "A party’s right to terminate unilaterally a permissive bargaining

subject is not contingent on first satisfying a bargaining obligation as to the substance,

impact or implementation of the change."

Under § 7103(a)(14), COE "means personnel policies, practices, and matters, whether established by rule, regulation, or otherwise [e.g., by custom or practice], affecting working conditions, except that such term does not include policies, practices, and matters--(A) relating to political activities prohibited under subchapter III of chapter 73 of this title; (B) relating to the classification of any positions; or (C) to the extent such matters are specifically provided for by Federal statute[.]" (Emphasis added.) The fact that a statute deals with a matter doesn’t mean that everything related to that matter isn’t a condition of employment. In 55 FLRA No. 18, the Authority said the following: “The appropriate inquiry . . . is whether a statute at issue provides the Agency with the discretion to agree to the proposal.”

The duty to bargain is limited to the mandatorily negotiable conditions of employment of bargaining unit employees. In FLRA’s words: “[M]atters concerning conditions of employment are subject to collective bargaining when they are within the discretion of an agency and are not otherwise inconsistent with law or applicable rule or regulation.” 53 FLRA 625, 648; 21 FLRA 61, 10-11. Unilateral changes in COE are unfair labor practices. For examples of what doesn't constitute a COE, see: 3 FLRA No. 8 (appeal system for military appraisals), 7 FLRA No. 18 (hunting and fishing on military reservation), 8 FLRA No. 75, #1 (management access to investigatory files), 11 FLRA No. 99 (classification of positions), and 13 FLRA No. 73 (recycling discarded paper).  Examples of what does constitute a COE include: work schedules, appraisals, dress code, desk moves or desk sharing. 

5 U.S.C. § 7114(a)(1): “An exclusive representative is responsible for representing the interests of all employees in the unit it represents without discrimination and without regard to labor organization membership.” See NTEU v. FLRA, 800 F.2d 1165 (D.C. Cir. 1986), where the court held that the union’s duty of fair representation is limited to matters as to which the union is the exclusive representative.

(In that case, the union, which provided the services of an attorney to members in Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) proceedings, told an employee facing removal that the union wouldn’t provide him with attorney services because he wasn’t a member of the union.) The court dismissed the ULP because the right to appeal to MSPB does not arise out of the collective bargaining agreement and the employee was free to designate non-union representatives.  Also see 28 FLRA No. 118, where FLRA said the following: “Where the union is acting as the exclusive representative of its unit members, we will continue to require that its activities be undertaken without discrimination and without regard to union membership under section 7114(a)(1). We will not, however, extend those statutory obligations to situations where the union is not acting as the exclusive representative . . . .” See 49 FLRA No. 71 for an example of a violation of this duty (members-only poll regarding seniority-based benefit system administered by union) and 46 FLRA No. 81 where FLRA found no violation because the nonmember employee against whom discipline was proposed had a right to have a representative of her own choice.

The primary legal reference for federal union matters is the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (FSLMRS), codified at 5 U.S.C. 71 (Title 5, United States Code, Chapter 71).  It is sometimes referred to as simply, “the Statute”.  The FSLMRS is the statutory basis for the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) and the Federal Service Impasses Panel.  It includes such topics as Management Rights, Representation Rights, the duty to bargain in good faith, and standards of conduct for labor organizations. 

Actions that can be taken under this statute include: an Unfair Labor Practice Charge (ULP), an Exception to an Arbitrator’s Award, a Negotiability Appeal, and a Request for Information.  The Union’s collective bargaining agreement (“contract”) with Management and the negotiated grievance procedure originate from requirements in the FSLMRS.

FSLMRS

See "International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers"

See "Office of Labor-Management Standards". 

Under § 7114(a)(2)(B), a bargaining unit employee being examined in an investigation (an investigatory examination or interview) is entitled to union representation if the examination is conducted by a representative of the agency, the employee reasonably believes that the examination may result in disciplinary action, and the employees asks for representation. A performance evaluation is not a Weingarten exam--see 5 FLRA No. 53. In resolving a split in the circuits, the Supreme Court held that Inspector General agents are representatives of the agency for the purposes of section

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