THANKS, AFGE. GREAT TRAINING IDEA
Maybe it due to its philosophy of inclusion, its values around openness, its bigger-than-all-the-rest-combined size, its enormous occupational complexity, or a few other things. But whatever brought it about it is a good deal for anyone with an interest in the mechanics of federal sector collective bargaining. AFGE has posted a Bargaining Tool Kit that includes some very well done Youtube videos
- explaining the overarching legal structure of bargaining;
- clarifying the distinctions among mandatory, permissive and illegal subjects of bargaining;
- listing the elements of advance notice that agencies must provide before making changes;
- showing how to avoid the traps in impact and implementation bargaining;
- debunking the image of management rights; and
- outlining how bargaining can be a part of two fundamentally different ways to run a union.
Unless you have about three years of almost non-stop bargaining experience under your belt, this is something you want to watch no matter what side of the bargaining table you sit on. We owe AFGE a debt for making this widely available, rather than hiding it behind a members-only filter. It is a wonderful supplement to the documents that the FLRA General Counsel shop already makes available to those interested in learning about the details of collective bargaining.
