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The Federal Service Labor-Management Relations
Statute outlines the broad matters over which management and a union must negotiate and
identifies rights that are reserved to management, and those that may be negotiated at
management’s discretion. The obligation to negotiate requires discussion and
consideration of the other party’s proposals.
Employees have the right to engage
in negotiations (i.e., collective bargaining) over conditions of employment through their
chosen union representatives. Negotiating or collective bargaining is the mutual
obligation of management and the union to meet at reasonable times and bargain in a good
faith effort to reach agreement with respect to conditions of employment affecting
employees represented by the union. Conditions of employment is a broad term which
encompasses personnel policies, practices, and matters affecting working conditions.
Certain matters are specifically excluded by law from being considered a condition of
employment (e.g., the classification of a position).
Negotiations occur at different times. The most publicized occasion is the formal
negotiations which result in a written document that is usually distributed to all members
of the bargaining unit and to all supervisors and management officials on the
installation. The document may be referred to as the union contract, collective bargaining
agreement, or labor-management negotiated agreement. It is normally subject to
renegotiation at specific intervals (e.g., every three years).
Other times when negotiations may arise are: agency reorganizations, the introduction
of new technology, changes in regulations of outside authorities, and a host of other
factors that may create a need for new working conditions that were not anticipated when
the basic contract was negotiated or are not covered by their agreement. In these cases,
when an agency decides to act, two types of negotiations may result:
- Negotiations on the decision itself may be in order; and/or
- Negotiating the effects of the decision - normally referred to as impact and
implementation (I & I) bargaining.
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When an agreement is reached, management and the
union are entitled to have the agreement committed to writing and implemented. Collective
bargaining does not, however, compel either the union or management to agree to the
other’s proposal or to make a particular concession. |
 General Management EEO Classification Labor Relations Employee
Relations Staffing Employee
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Revised: 11/18/98
DOI University
National Business Center
U.S. Department of the Interior
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