Category Archives: Bargaining Law
“DE MINIMIS” DOCTRINE TOO COMPLEX EVEN FOR ALJs? Not long ago FEDSMILL.com posted an article entitled “Die, De Minimis Die” to shine a light on how elusively complex and high risk the de minimis doctrine is for practitioners. It may … Continue reading →
DIE, DE MINIMIS, DIE! Even though there is some legal foundation for holding that a change must be more than de minimis to create a bargaining obligation, it has been more trouble than it is worth—even to management. One case … Continue reading →
A NEGOTIATOR’S ROOKIE MISTAKE & APPROPRIATE ARRANGEMENTS This is one of those case law precedents that union negotiators cannot hear enough. If your proposals are all non-negotiable, you give the employer the right to unilaterally implement its proposed midterm change. … Continue reading →
WHEN PAST PRACTICE TRUMPS CONTRACT LANGUAGE What do you do if management suddenly announces that despite following a certain past practice for years, which obviously conflicted with the contract language, it is now pronouncing the past practice dead and insisting … Continue reading →
NEGOTIATORS BEWARE OF MOUs A new FLRA decision (AFGE, 64 FLRA 1113)leaves all us practitioners just a little more confused about the process for terminating not just a mid-term MOU agreement, but also the practices it established. AFGE lost the … Continue reading →
Posted in Bargaining Law, ULPs
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Tagged Contract Termination, Memo of Understanding
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FUBAR: POPE’S PERMISSIVE POPPYCOCK QUESTION: Why should a union never accept a management offer to sign contract language over a Section 7106(b)(1) permissive subject, such as method and means, technology, numbers, grades, etc.? ANSWER: Because Carol Waller Pope, Chair of … Continue reading →
BARGAINING OVER WORKLOAD CHANGES The FLRA decided to once again defy common sense and only time (and a federal circuit court) will tell which one prevails. The outcome will determine whether unions have the right to negotiate over changes in … Continue reading →
MAKING NEW PROPOSALS AFTER BARGAINING BEGINS There is a little-known court case that authorizes union negotiators to make totally new proposals in the middle of negotiations.
Posted in Bargaining Law, Bargaining Proposals, Strategy/tactics
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Tagged Counter-proposals, Proposals
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DUBESTER CRITICIZES COVERED-BY CONCEPT FLRA Member DuBester launched his own five-prong attack on the infamous two-prong covered-by concept that has generated so much chaos since its creation. Writing a dissenting opinion in AFGE, SSA General Committee, 66 FLRA No. 108, … Continue reading →
Posted in Bargaining Law, Covered-by, FLRA
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Tagged Bargaining, Covered-by, DuBester, FLRA Dissent
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FLRA FUBAR: THE PAST PRACTICE “ACQUIESCENCE” MESS The FLRA has done a lot of good, and it has had moments where it neither helped nor harmed. But there also have been times when it has Fouled Up Beyond All Reason … Continue reading →