Jones replied that same day, conceding that the process has fallen slightly behind schedule.. 431. At that point, it was apparent to both parties that these decisions could not be made until much later in the relocation process, and indeed Union Proposals 35 and 36 sought to commit the parties to negotiations when they possessed the necessary information to resolve them, rather than in April, when both sides were buying a pig in a poke. Tr. Jt. More importantly, the Union continued to keep its original forty-one proposals on the table. Br. We dont intend to waste our time, and that of a mediator, to engage in a useless undertaking.. . Tr. Also, according to Durkin, Lennie told attendees that they had been working with the architects for months to try to fit everything in, and that they had received design drawings a month prior and . Asked why the Agency rejected the Unions counterproposals, when those counterproposals largely accepted Agency positions, Jones stated: We werent going to start bargaining piecemeal, at least not at that point. The NLRB Union challenged regulations that were promulgated by the Federal Labor Relations Authority on January 17, 1980, nearly seven years prior to the appeal. The primary responsibilities of the FLRA are to: Resolve complaints of unfair labor practices (ULPs). 33, 42-43, 403; GC Ex. 106-07. 51 at 7. In its opening statement at the hearing, Respondents counsel similarly asserted that it had no further bargaining obligations regarding the relocation after it bargained on April 23 and 24. , Tr. There are five people in total on the NLRBs board. She also asked for any and all documents showing, for each bargaining unit employee as of July 1, 2013, the square footage, whether by office, workstation, by cubicle or by work area allocated to each particular employee, among other things. D.C. 165, 126 L.R.R.M. Luther also provided Jones with proposed ground rules for the negotiations. 450. 109. 418. . 85-88; GC Ex. The caucus lasted from approximately 1:15 to 4:00 p.m., at which time the Agency transmitted a list of twenty-three counterproposals to the Union by email. Jones was asked whether he had any version of the drawings, draft or otherwise, that he was not disclosing. The Unions two other counterproposals were very similar to Agency proposals, indicating that further discussions could have led to an agreement. These factors establish that there was a strong potential for further and productive bargaining, if only the Agency had the patience to persist beyond its arbitrary deadline. The FLRAs one-stop shop for all things training with upcoming in-person events near you, YouTube videos, agency training contacts and more. GC Ex. The Union team had not seen the entire Franklin Court facility the previous day, so the parties agreed to spend the morning continuing Tuesdays walk-through. 22 at 3-5. Bargaining on Thursday, April 24, began with Jones and other members of the Agency team giving their initial reactions to most of the Unions forty-one proposals. 38. The FLRA claimed that judicial review was barred by the sixty day statute of limitations. We also reference original research from other reputable publishers where appropriate. One member is appointed by the President to serve as chairman, chief executive officer, and chief administrative officer of the FLRA. Durkin and Nixon reiterated their disagreement, with Nixon telling Jones, we dont have your proposals even. Tr. The architects finalized design intent drawings in August. You can find all of ourresources in one convenient spot, including guides, FAQs, forms, and more. 105. Although Jones insisted in March and April that the Agency had not received preliminary drawings or floor plans for the new offices until April 14, the record demonstrates that the architects had submitted a series of proposed floor plans to the Agency prior to April 14, and that Agency officials had been engaged in detailed discussions with the architect and with GSA about the adequacy (or inadequacy) of the space being allocated to the NLRB. When workers are stripped of union protections, wages stagnate or decline, and inequities grow. Many of these proposals were not related to the size of individual offices or cubicles, and indeed the Agency itself had no way of properly or knowledgeably negotiating many of these subjects (such as the height of cubicle walls, frosting on glass, and options for furniture, flooring, and walls) in April or May. 106. Jones added that bargaining other than face-to-face bargaining would present a number of practical difficulties, saying, We couldnt possibly try to negotiate a subject as complicated as the complete relocation of the Agencys headquarters by email or telephone. 274. Tr. Let us know what you think about our new and improved website by emailing us at EngagetheFLRA@flra.gov. Who We Are.. In other words, the Agency left the Union (actually two unions) in the dark and delayed bargaining with them until the eleventh hour, and then claimed that its hands were tied by GSA, so that negotiations had to be concluded in an unreasonably short period of time. Conduct Elections Tr. 409; On April 7, an architect from WDG emailed Crayton and Graham the latest drawings, for their review and comment. And hiring an attorney who dabbles can lead to bad outcomes. Tr. Later that day, Woodcock met with NLRB General Counsel Griffin in his office. The next day, May 7, most of the Union team participated in a videoconference with NLRB General Counsel Griffin and Rachel Lennie, which focused primarily on the Unions pending information requests and its need to have this information in order to bargain properly. (b) Post at all offices of the Agency where bargaining unit employees are located, copies of the attached Notice on forms to be furnished by the Federal Labor Relations Authority. 127-28. Graham and Lennie responded that the Agency was requesting those changes. The ground rules agreement also provided, among other things, that on April 22 there would be a tour of Half Street, a full visual inspection of employee work areas at Franklin Court, and then a briefing from GSA and the architects; the Union would submit its bargaining proposals by noon on April 21, and the Agency would submit counterproposals within three days thereafter; and caucus time could be taken, but no party would caucus for more than one hour, absent mutual agreement. Based on the foregoing, I conclude that the ground rules agreement did not justify the Respondents decision to end bargaining prior to reaching agreement or impasse. Luther also stated that the Union would be contacting the FMCS for assistance. Organized Labor - Defining Unions and Collective Bargaining, Impact of the NLRB on Professional Sports, Sotomayors Baseball Ruling Lingers, 14 Years Later, Labor Board Calls for Revote at Amazon Warehouse in Alabama in Major Victory for Union. With regard to whether the ground rules agreement limited bargaining to April 23-24, Jones testified that he removed the word initial from the Unions proposed ground rules, stating, I wanted people to understand . 141; GC Ex. WE WILL upon request, negotiate in good faith with the Union concerning the relocation of Agency headquarters to the extent required by the Statute, including participating in mediation under the auspices of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, if requested by either party, and if requested and necessary to implement the results of any agreement reached or resolution imposed by the Federal Service Impasses Panel, replace or substitute any features located within the new headquarters building that are subject to bargaining under the Statute. The Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) is an independent agency of the United States government that governs labor relations between the federal government and its employees. Jones asked Durkin and Luther not to, saying, You agreed to a visual inspection and thats what we expect this to be. Tr. And, without strong enforcement of labor laws, unions cannot effectively function. The FLRA is the federal public sector counterpart to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which governs labor relations between private sector employees and employers. 100-01, 230-31. 236, 238. . These laws include federal and state wage and hour laws, discrimination laws, and leave laws. Additionally, the bargaining with the Union over furniture lasted for only one day, November 24, and it ended without an agreement or evidence of an impasse. About NLRB., National Labor Relations Board. They had just a few of the drawings. Tr. During this period, Agency officials were negotiating with the architects how much space each division of the Agency needed, how large the offices and cubicles could be, and other meaningful design issues. . Thus, as with the April negotiations, the bargaining in November failed to satisfy the requirements of the Statute. In response to the unions argument that excluding it from negotiations with the prospective landlord would prevent it from contributing to the important decisions affecting the relocation, the judge said: Since it is the responsibility of an agency seeking to make the change to insure that it has fulfilled its bargaining obligation before implementation . This is just one of a series of examples of the kind of power that the NLRB possesses. The Union team attempted to see what the differences were between the Unions proposals and the Agencys counterproposals. [on] the 24th, we walked through each of these and there was some general discussion. I believe that by deleting the word initial from the Unions draft language of paragraph 2, Jones intended to phrase the ground rules to suggest a fixed period for bargaining, but there is no evidence that this point was actually discussed by the parties during the negotiation of the ground rules. The Union team consisted of Julia Durkin, an attorney at the Agencys Denver Regional Office, who served as a local president and had bargained over an office move in Denver (Tr. for commenting on the design drawings for Half Street. Every Bundle includes the complete text from each of the titles below: PLUS: Hundreds of law school topic-related videos from 22. . Concurrence. The Board is supported by a General Counsel, who is also nominated by the President of the United States, with the advice and consent of the Senate, for a term of five years. It didnt have to be face-to-face. Concepts we will address include: 29. "University of Southern California. On December 23, Jones sent Woodcock an email, offering one additional bargaining session in January in an attempt to resolve all outstanding issues related to the headquarters relocation. GC Ex. Tr. 42 at 1. Ex. Durkin and Luther complied. This individual is appointed by the president for a four-year term and functions independently from the board. Employment laws are essentially all employment-related laws that are not labor laws. , 41 FLRA at 340 n.*. the judges discussion of the agencys duty to allow a reasonable time for the bargaining process to occur. High-profile cases in which the NLRB has been involved include when it helped to end a baseball strike that culminated in the 1994 playoffs and World Series being canceled. Tr. 98-99. 479. President John F. Kennedy (Memorandum to the Heads of Agencies on Employee-Management Relations in the Federal Service, June 22, 1961). and it didnt fit. Tr. On April 10, the three of them discussed these issues over the phone. What Is the Difference Between the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA)? NLRB, the National Labor Relations Board, is an independent federal agency vested with the ability to safeguard employees' rights to organize and to determine whether to have unions as their bargaining representative. But, he continued, there is not going to be ongoing bargaining. 30 at 3. Griffin acknowledged that that was a problem . Nonetheless, the union and the GCargued that the agency was obligated to begin bargaining once the relocation was contemplated., . Find everything you need to know about filing a casewith the FLRA. Tr. But I find the determination of the Authority in the, situation strikingly similar to ours, to be instructive and persuasive. The Respondent notes next that the Union withdrew its five initial counterproposals on April 29. Consistent with its statutory charge to provide leadership in establishing policies and guidance to participants in the Federal labor-management relations program, the Authority also assists Federal agencies and unions in understanding their rights and responsibilities under the Statute through statutory training of parties. Therefore, it could hardly be said on April 24 that further negotiations would be fruitless; on the contrary, further negotiations were inevitable. In sum, the parties could have engaged in productive discussions over the Unions proposals after April 24. Harry Jones, Assistant General Counsel for Labor and Employee Relations, represented management during the move. 14 at 3. 401. 2; Tr. While the Union might have been able to figure out, from Joness repeated assertions, that the Agency would not agree to the Unions proposals calling for further bargaining (Union Proposals 35-40), it would nevertheless have been reasonable for the Agency to give specific written responses to the Unions proposals, or to offer its formula for handling these problems, so the Union could know where it stood. Because the negotiating table is so steeply slanted toward the Agency (due to its unilateral implementation of so many details of the relocation), a presumption of retroactivity is needed to restore the conditions that existed when negotiations began. The Authority viewed the applicable "law" to be the "management rights" provision under section 7106 of the FSLMRS. At the same time, negotiations were also underway with the Union, Agency and FLRA to settle the Unions ULP charge. When parties are engaged in bargaining over a proposed change in conditions of employment, an agency is generally required to maintain the status quo pending the completion of the entire bargaining process, including the opportunity to pursue impasse resolution procedures. 39. The History of Unions in the United States, Amazon (AMZN) Union Gets Split Decision in NYC, Bernie Sanders's Economic Plan: A Second Bill of Rights. It could be by teleconference or videoconference. Well meet today and tomorrow [April 23-24], and thats it. Tr. 1(a). Although both laws cover labor relations and rights, they . 109-10, 256-57. The FLRA initially decided that disclosure was "prohibited by law" under 7114 (b) (4). . The list of these laws is long and growing. The FLRA is the federal public sector counterpart to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which governs labor relations between private sector employees and employers. As for whether the parties discussed the issue of furniture, Jones stated, When we walked through the initial proposals of the Union . Tr. He said that when the management team caucused after lunch on the 24th, we were only able to begin discussion of the Unions 40+ proposals . And on Dec. 14, 2022, the Los Angeles office of the NLRB agreed to look into a case filed by the National College Players Association (NCPA) alleging unfair labor practices on behalf of University of Southern California football and basketball teams. At a Space Advisory Committee meeting on October 15, Crayton and WDG briefed the members about the construction schedule and options for furniture and window frosting at Half Street. Since the Union had been actively pursuing mediation, the Union team understood this to mean that the Agency was refusing to engage in mediation. Later that morning, Jones and Graham escorted the Union team through Franklin Court. . . . Were not withholding any information. Tr. 51 at 7. 32, 264. Although it kept the Space Advisory Committee apprised of what was happening with the construction and allowed the committee members to express their opinions at certain times, many of the committee members were not part of the Unions bargaining unit, and this process was not bargaining. In answering that question, it is important to evaluate whether the parties have thoroughly discussed the disputed issues and all ways of reaching a compromise on those issues. But this interpretation requires an emphasis on selective phrases in the agreement, at the expense of its context. On February 5, Luther emailed Jones the Unions request to bargain over the relocation. Published on May 23, 2006 in Law ( Labor ) , Business ( General ) Tweet. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) no longer deliver on their respective statutory mandates to protect the rights of workers to form, join and support a union and encourage the practice and procedure of collective bargaining; and, Pro-worker decisions were issued under the Obama-era federal labor boards, but we are seeing significant retrenchment under the current NLRB and FLRA. Paid for by the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, 1625 L St., NW, Washington, DC, 20036. The FLRA is an independent administrative federal agency that administers the labor-management relations program for 2.1 million non-postal federal employees worldwide. I also believe that in these factual circumstances, the Union should, as the court envisioned in. Accordingly, I recommend that the Authority adopt the following Order: Pursuant to 2423.41(c) of the Rules and Regulations of the Authority and 7118 of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (theStatute), the National Labor Relations Board (the Agency) shall: (a) Terminating bargaining over the relocation of its headquarters office prior to reaching an agreement or prior to reaching an impasse with the National Labor Relations Board Union (the Union). The Union declined to stay beyond 6:30 p.m., and the Agency declared that negotiations were terminated. Jones did not articulate his understanding of paragraph 2 to the Union team until substantive negotiations had begun on April 23, and the Union immediately disputed his understanding. The Union asked to submit its remaining counterproposals the following week, and to resume bargaining thereafter, since it had not had time to prepare a response on all issues. 37 at 2. 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