WHAT DID THIS UNION DO WRONG?
Here are the facts. See if you can figure out two things the union did wrong. The agency had a practice of placing a guard at each of its strategically important locations around its property every shift. When it suddenly changed that by requiring one staff person to cover two strategic locations per shift rather than one, the union charged management with violating the contract. The clause at issue read as follows: “The Employer agrees to lower inherent hazards to employees to the lowest level possible without relinquishing its management rights. A ‘strategic location’ is defined as a self-contained area and can only be safely secured by a single officer.” The union grievance asked for a return to the prior staffing level and that is what the arbitrator ordered. However, FLRA overturned the award saying that it intruded too heavily on management’s right to assign work. Have you identified the two errors yet? Continue reading