Author Archives: AdminUN

About AdminUN

FEDSMILL staff has over 40 years of federal sector labor relations experience on the union as well as management side of the table and even some time as a neutral.

BARGAINING I&I OVER SHUTDOWN FURLOUGHS Although it makes no sense outside the world of “stir-up-the-base-and-its contributions” politics, the odds are increasing that federal employees will have to endure shutdown furloughs once again in the near future. Consequently, if your union … Continue reading

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NO ENVIRONMENTAL DIFFERENTIAL PAY (EDP) FOR COVID EXPOSURE Not sure why the union chose to take this case to the generally anti-employee Federal Circuit Court rather than to arbitration. Afterall, arbitrators have ordered EDP and the FLRA has upheld those orders. But … Continue reading

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FLRA’S BIZARRE VALENTINES DAY GIFT FLRA slipped a bizarre gift under our L-M community pillow on the eve of Valentines’ Day. It held that unions can be obligated to reopen and modify existing term bargaining ground rules agreements in the … Continue reading

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FLRA BOOSTS TELEWORK REMEDIES   Few things are as frustrating as winning a grievance, arbitration or ULP only to find that the sole remedy imposed is an order that management not violate the law or contract again.  FLRA claims that remedies should … Continue reading

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GRIEVING NON-SELECTION FOR PROMOTION (Part 1) Ask a manager if you can grieve non-selection from a BQ list and you are likely to hear that you can’t. Some of them will even quote part of a federal regulation that bars … Continue reading

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A RELIGIOUS WAR IS COMING TO YOUR OFFICE SOON Later this year it is all but certain that union reps’ lives will be a little more complicated—and maybe a lot more. The Supreme Court is all but certain to substantially … Continue reading

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DO IT LIKE BEZOS DID Those looking to build membership in their union can learn a very important lesson from recalling how Jeff Bezos built Amazon from a single product bookstore into a mega-retailer. The short answer is that while … Continue reading

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IS IT “SHIRKING” OR JUST OLD FASHION LYING? The political extremists who see unions as their enemies (and most are) and who would give managers unreviewable dictatorial power to fire whomever they wish for any reason they wish are at … Continue reading

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WHY DOESN’T YOUR UNION BARGAIN OVER MONEY? Although only a few federal employees bargaining units are allowed to negotiate over salaries, virtually all fed units are allowed to demand increases in indirect ways of increasing their members’ total compensation. We … Continue reading

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GRIEVING A FAILURE TO MENTOR OR DEVELOP EMPLOYEES Very few labor agreements or grievances address an employee’s right to career development opportunities. But a new case out of the EEOC suggests that this is a field union reps should think … Continue reading

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