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 has not already addressed that situation in an existing agreement, it is a good time to open negotiations over the potential furloughs using the union’s right to initiate mid-term bargaining. If you do, we suggest you watch the video where an attorney explains how to conduct I&I bargaining over this topic.  The attorney, Raven Hall, had a distinguished career as an negotiator and arbitration attorney with a federal employee union, followed by a tour with a DC law firm and the Teamsters’ General Counsel staff.  She is now in the AFL-CIO General Counsel shop.