WHAT IS AN A/SLMR?

If the acronym does not register a bell, maybe the widespread pronunciation will. Those of us who got into the LR business before 1979 commonly pronounced it A-SLAMMER. Still don’t know? Well, long, long ago and far, far away in a dark forest without any laws, federal sector labor relations operated under the paternal generosity of Presidential Executive Orders. And whenever an employee thought an agency or union committed an unfair labor practice, the complaint was filed with the Department of Labor’s Assistant Secretary for Labor Management Relations, the initials of which are A/SLMR. You might say the case law that came out of that office set the stage for what we have today from FLRA. In fact, if you read FLRA decisions carefully, down to the footnote, you will see more than 1,000 mentions of A/SLMR case precedent–most recently last September.  At times, it can be helpful to an advocate to trace an issue back to A/SLMR precedent to see how it compares to what FLRA has done. If you ever have the need to do so, you can find these decisions tucked away on FLRA gov on the following page: https://www.flra.gov/decisions/archival-decisions-legislative-history-foreign-service-decisions