HEY, UNION LEADERS, JUST SUPPOSE SOMEONE WAS…

willing to sit down with you for two days to walk you through more than 125 of the most significant FLRA and court collective bargaining precedents.  They will include not just the well-known ones, but dozens of those not often discussed or remembered—other than by the most sophisticated contract negotiators. Those would be the ones that give the best union negotiators their “SURPRISE!” power to stop management and even the FSIP from doing the wrong thing. Now imagine that the discussion is also going to include advice on boosting union bargaining power, how to use contract drafting to reduce management decision-making control, and bargaining-related ULP remedies that most discourage agencies from ever violating union rights again. Well, that is what is going to happen at the upcoming class entitled, BARGAINING BY THE NUMBERS UNION TRAINING PROGRAM. It is scheduled for November 13 & 14, will be taught by the Fedsmill.com publisher with the Gilbert Training Group, and will be offered online as well as in a classroom for those in the Washington, DC area. The agenda is below and you can register for the course by clicking on this site.

BARGAINING BY THE NUMBERS UNION TRAINING PROGRAM

Day 1

Welcome From Fedsmill and the Gilbert Employment Law Group (9:00- 9:15)

50+ Must-Know Collective Bargaining Legal Precedents (9:15 -12:00)

No matter what the game, the person who knows the rules the best has an advantage over everyone else.  This class will cover the more than 50 FLRA and judicial legal precedents that constitute the rules of the federal sector collective bargaining process—term as well as mid-term. The information should help you avoid bargaining mistakes and to take advantage when the other side of the bargaining table does not know the rule.

7+    Particularized Need Elements (1:00- 2:00)

Gathering information not only helps a union zero in on what the members really need in their next contract, but it is a major source of union bargaining power. This class will over the statutory and case law requirements for a union demand for information.

11+ Essential Elements of a Ground Rules Agreement (2:15 -3:15)

Term and mid, Off time prep, info disputes, caucus time team, schedule, where, nn disputes, ULP’s,  mid-term, scope, enforcement, proposals, new proposals, mid-term issues,

7  Most Important Bargaining Proposals (3:15- 4:30)

This class will look at what FLRA has said about the negotiability of proposals related to the biggest issues for employees, e.g., Telework, AWS/CWS, reassignments, awards, temporary promotions, union rights, etc.

Day 2

5+ Management Rights Negotiability Decisions And A Dozen Or So Widely Applicable Appropriate Arrangement Proposals (9:00 – 10:00)

One of the sources of union bargaining power is the ability to respond to a management claim your initial proposal is non-negotiable with a procedural or appropriate arrangement proposal that accomplishes all or most of what your initial proposal targeted.

10 Ways to Get a Share of Management’s Decision-Making Power (10:15- 11:15)

Bargaining is not a binary exercise where you choose between letting management have all the power to make a decision and shifting all that power to the union to decide.  There are a variety of ways to divide the power and this class will identify each of them.

5+ Sources Of Union Bargaining Power (11:15- 12:00)

On the surface, federal sector bargaining disputes are to be settled by evidence, reason and process.  In reality, both parties have raw power tools they can use to get things that the impasse process may not give them. This class will identify the sources of union power and the limits on its use.

12   Or So Legal & Tactical Aspects of Navigating FMCS and FSIP Impasse Assistance (1:00-2:30)

If you can’t list a dozen or more legal precedents, regulatory provisions, and tactical options negotiators must confront in the impasse process you will be able to at the endof this class.

12+ Remedies for Bargaining Infractions (2:45 – 3:45) 

All too often FLRA issues decisions finding an agency committed a ULP, but limits the remedy to a cease & desist order and a posting.  Sadly, that normally happens because the union fails to recognize all the other potential remedies available to them.  This class will encourage participants to demand the full range of potential bad faith bargaining remedies when they file the ULP charge.  If done correctly, that should greatly increase an agency’s willingness to settle the case.