Category Archives: Bargaining

BID & ROTATION DYNAMICS The Panel just issued a decision dealing with the right of AFGE Correctional Officers to bid into various assignments by seniority. (AFGE, 2014 FSIP 48) NTEU CBP Officers and several other law enforcement groups have similar … Continue reading

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THE BEST OF FEDSMILL ON BARGAINING We have been at this for three years, but so many of our readers either joined us after we started or were in very different union leadership positions then. So, we thought we would … Continue reading

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NLRB DECISION SUGGESTS FLRA GET TOUGHER The NLRB, which many judges have told the Authority to look to for guidance, just clobbered an employer that bargained in bad faith by ordering it to pay the union negotiators’ salaries and costs … Continue reading

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10 BARGAINING ISSUES AROUND PHASED RETIREMENT Now that OPM has finally issued regulations to implement the phased retirement program (PRP), it is time for unions to prepare bargaining demands. Here are some that would be on our list.

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THE FORWARD-LOOKING NEGOTIATOR Federal employee unions have been bargaining for over 35 years now—and a few for over 50 years.  So, it is reasonable to ask when all the reasonable issues will have been addressed and there is little to … Continue reading

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THE AUTOMATED FORMAL DISCUSSION The statute has been in place for over 30 years now, but FLRA case law guidance on what is and is not a formal discussion is still next to useless for practitioners.  (Check out “FLRA FUBAR: … Continue reading

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UPDATE ON BARGAINING OVER WORKLOAD CHANGES Two years ago we pointed out what we believed to be the error in FLRA’s thinking when it held that an agency can stand by and watch employee workloads skyrocket out of sight due … Continue reading

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DETAILS: WHAT ABOUT THOSE LEFT BEHIND? Most agreements contain a clause that spells out how employees are to be selected for details, but what about the employees who are left behind when someone leaves on a detail or reassignment?  The … Continue reading

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10 NEW (AND LEGAL) WAYS AGENCIES CAN SPY ON EMPLOYEES A union not only works on current employee problems, but also looks ahead to looming ones. Agency spying on employees (or monitoring, if you want to be polite) is one … Continue reading

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AAGGGHHHH!  WHY DO UNION REPS MAKE THIS MISTAKE? A while ago we posted an article entitled, “How to Lose Millions For Members.”  It explained that from all appearances the union had missed the opportunity to stop management from taking away … Continue reading

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