Category Archives: Bargaining Negotiability

NEGOTIATING 7106(b)(1) GRADES We are going to open with the bad news.  FLRA has used the statutory provision of 7103(a)(14)(B) that excludes from the concept of conditions of employment anything “relating to the classification of any position” to pretty much … Continue reading

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WHERE DO YOU BARGAIN PERMISSIVE ISSUES? A lot of local unions think that they can approach their local management counterparts and demand to open bargaining over the permissive topics President Biden just made mandatory subjects of bargaining.  NOT TRUE! The … Continue reading

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BARGAINING OVER THE “TECHNOLOGY” OF PERFORMING WORK Yes, we hear that a lot of agencies out there are dragging their feet about engaging in permissive bargaining.  Unions will just have to keep pushing the issue through the grievance procedure alleging … Continue reading

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FSIP, DE FACTO NEGOTIABILITY DISPUTES & ULP’s Agencies are obligated by executive order to refuse to negotiate over certain union proposals. So, what happens if a union makes proposals that directly clash with the provisions of Trump’s executive orders? One … Continue reading

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UNION NEGOTIATOR’S QUIZ Imagine you are in this situation.  You are in term negotiations and the agency refused to bargain over three provisions that have been in the agreement for more than a decade.  It claims they are suddenly non-negotiable.  … Continue reading

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MSPB POLICY DIRECTOR ENDORSES PASS-FAIL EVALUATION SYSTEMS If you listen to the anti-labor and anti-employee zealots clogging the OPM and FLRA policy making levels, you would think that union proposals to establish Pass-Fail appraisal ratings systems are Satanic-derived plots to … Continue reading

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FINGERS, THUMBS, NEGOTIABILITY AND IMPASSE Both labor-management parties are regularly guilty of missing the very significant distinction between a proposal being “non-negotiable” versus the agency having “no obligation to bargain” over it.  The pre-impasse bargaining process permits parties to use … Continue reading

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YO-YO KA IS NO YO YO MA While the world of music is blessed with the genius of Yo Yo Ma,  the Federal LMR community is stuck with the screeching of Yo-Yo KA.  Kiko and Abbott (aka The KA), our … Continue reading

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BEWARE THE RETROACTIVE CONTRACT CLAUSE It does not happen often, but every few years we hear about an interest arbitrator or fact-finder imposing a contract clause that has retroactive effect. For example, suppose the parties went to the FSIP in … Continue reading

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HOW TO DO QUICK NEGOTIABILITY RESEARCH OPM has an on-line document that we have found helpful for two reasons.  First, it is a good source for ideas about mid-term proposals the union could make.  The ideas are sorted by subject, … Continue reading

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