Posted on June 1, 2020 by AdminUN

IS ROCKET BARGAINING LEGAL?

One of the two parties involved in negotiating a term agreement is usually far more eager to get the deal done ASAP than the other one.  When the FSIP is loaded with anti-union political operatives, rather than actual labor relations professionals, as it is today, the eager party is management. And the fastest way to get a final deal is to propose in ground rules bargaining that once the negotiation begins it continue nonstop until FMCS mediation has concluded.  That is then followed by a momentary pause before FSIP takes over and rubber stamps whatever the agency is demanding. If the union will not agree to that voluntarily, the agency asks the Panel to impose it. It is a great scheme for management, but is it legal?  There is good reason to believe it is not legal for the agency to insist to impasse on a schedule that rockets the union through the bargaining process to which it is entitled by statute. For example, … Continue reading →

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Posted on May 27, 2020 by AdminUN

TRUMP’S EXECUTIVE ORDERS HOG TIE AGENCY GROUND RULE NEGOTIATORS

Traditionally, there are four things agencies want from unions when bargaining ground rules for reopening a term agreement. This is particularly true during times when the FSIP is heavily biased against unions, e.g., 2001-08, 2017 to the present, etc. But, the President’s anti-union executive orders have made it almost impossible to get those concessions from unions now. Chalk that up to a big dose of irony or just plain old lack of forethought, but the result is the same.  Agency negotiators are hog tied by their own President if unions want to use the power Trump unwittingly gave them. Continue reading →

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Posted on May 27, 2020 by AdminUN

ACCOMMODATING COVID-19 AT-RISK EMPLOYEES (EEOC GUIDANCE)

We like to let our subscribers know when something pops up on the web that should be useful to them.  This piece, posted by the folks at California Dental Association, offers some practical advice about how at-risk employees can be COVID-19 accommodated during this period.  With the more and more Feds being recalled to their job sites every day, this issue is bound to come up in most bargaining units.  You might want to send members an e-mail telling them that if they are in the at-risk group, they should contact the union for help. Here is where you can find the post.

Posted in Reasonable Accommodations | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on May 22, 2020 by AdminUN

ARBITRATOR PRITZKER, YOU ARE DEAD WRONG   

Malcolm Pritzker, an experienced DC arbitrator, recently ruled that an agency (SSA) violated the law by withholding information from the union (AALJ) during bargaining.  The agency withheld the information, sped the dispute to the FSIP, and got one of the Panel’s politically-patented anti-union decisions imposing working conditions that employees must now live with. The union requested that Pritzker void the conditions imposed on them and return the parties to the bargaining table to negotiate in good faith this time.  Pritzker, however, refused to do that.  He wrote, “I do not have the right to interfere with the procedures of the impasses panel or to intervene in the collective bargaining process, and I will not order the reopening of the negotiations between the parties.” He could not be more wrong for the following seven reasons.  Continue reading →

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Posted on May 22, 2020 by AdminUN

UNION REP TEST #6 (FMLA)

The COVID crisis is going to create a lot of traffic for union stewards from employees with an entire range of FMLA questions.  The web and other fed employee news sites currently are loaded with information about the FMLA-related Leave Provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), but employees will inevitably want to know more about their core FMLA rights.  Check out this FMLA quiz from our blogging buddies at the law firm of Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP which will help you dust off some things you knew and might have forgotten or fill in some gaps in your FMLA readiness.

Posted in Union Rep Test | Tagged | 1 Comment

Posted on May 18, 2020 by AdminUN

WELL ISN’T THIS AN INTERESTING UNION COVID RESPONSE

Some enterprising legal eagles in New York City just filed a class action lawsuit claiming that an employer must provide reasonable accommodations to employees at risk of catching COVID-19 at the job site.  Their claim is based on the requirements of the ADAAA and Rehabilitation Act. So, how long will it be before some federal union files a similar claim with EEOC to force an employer to provide fed employees reasonable accommodation? It is unlikely the union could file on behalf of all federal employees at once or even all in one bargaining unit.  But if they narrow the class to those with common employment conditions this just might work.  Legal action might be all it takes to force an agency to allow employees to continue to telework despite the President groveling for someone—anyone—to go back to the office.  If an agency does no relent, then the employees just might be eligible for reinstatement of any leave they have to take, compensatory damages, attorney fees, and a few other remedies. If you want to know more about an employee’s right to a reasonable accommodation to deal with COVID-19, check out Section D of this new EEOC issuances.

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Posted on May 18, 2020 by AdminUN

UNION REP TEST #5 (Negotiations –An Agency’s Specific Notice Obligation)

We have said it often before.  The biggest process mistake management can make while bargaining is to violate this obligation, and aggressive enforcement of this obligation by the union increases its visibility, credibility, and bargaining clout.  Simply stated, the law requires management to give the union “specific notice” of any change in conditions of employment before the agency can implement the change. But there are a lot of subtleties and details union negotiators should know well.  We have posed 10 True-False questions below followed by the answers.  Test yourself to get a sense of how well you know this area of law. Continue reading →

Posted in Bargaining Law, Union Rep Test | Tagged | 1 Comment

Posted on May 11, 2020 by AdminUN

UNION REP TEST #4 (EEO- Medical Information Privacy)

The rehabilitation Act prohibits managers from disclosing physical or mental medical information they have about an employee to anyone without a legitimate reason to know.  Nonetheless, managers repeatedly ignore the rule and violate the employee’s right to privacy. Consequently, it will help employees get corrective action including money damages if union reps are familiar with the many situations in which the law is violated.  Below are a series of situations where medical information was disclosed.  See if you can identify the ones where the law was violated and those where the manager did nothing wrong. The answers are at the end of the quiz questions. Continue reading →

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Posted on May 11, 2020 by AdminUN

FLRA’S JAMES ABBOTT COMES OUT AS HYPOCRITE EXTRAORDINAIRE

A few days ago Jim Abbott, one of the President’s more dishonorable appointees, threw the doors open for all the world to see the hypocrite he is. Although he agreed with his colleagues on how a case should be resolved substantively, he went out of his way to criticize them for not providing the thousands of actual labor-management practitioners who must administer the law labor law with clearly written decisions.  Here is what he wrote in a dissent; “I recently reminded my colleagues that the Authority’s decisions must be clear, concise, and easily understood by the federal labor-management relations community.” (DoD, DLA, and AFGE, Local 1992, 71 FLRA 729 (2020)) We could not agree more with the idea that FLRA pronouncements must be easily understood, but Jim Abbott has a long record of issuing some of the most unintelligible decisions in FLRA history and is the last person on the planet who should be leveling that criticism at others.  Just look at the muddled decisions he has issued. Continue reading →

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Posted on May 5, 2020 by AdminUN

UNION REP TEST #3 (LR – COVID CHANGES) 

Read over the facts below and identify what, if anything, the union can do to help. The answer is provided below the facts. FACTS: Assume that an employee’s administrative workweek starts in the wee hours of Sunday morning and goes through to midnight the following Saturday. Let’s call the employee Keisha. During the last year, she has always had a tour of duty running from Tuesday through Saturday starting at 8 a.m. and ending at 4: 30 p.m. Those were her regularly scheduled 40 hours. However, due to management’s COVID-related desire to reduce the number of people in the office at one time, the agency’s regional manager decided to adjust the schedules of the people in Keisha’s work unit.  Keisha’s new hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday and Friday, but the rest of the week she is to work from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Everyone in Keisha’s unit had similar changes.  The first time the union rep heard this change was coming was when Keisha told him.  What should the union rep do?  Continue reading →

Posted in Test Yourself, Union Rep Test | Tagged | 1 Comment