Labor Relations
A union is an organization of employees who pay dues and participate together in management-employee relationships.
Dual-status technicians and civilian federal employees are eligible to form unions. State employees may or may not have authority to participate in unions.
Federal employers must recognize a union as the exclusive representative of the employees in a unit when the union has been approved by a majority of unit employees.
The union represents all members of the unit regardless of their membership status. Thus, a union represents a unit employee who is not a dues-paying member of the union.
The union is entitled to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement for unit members. The agreement governs management actions involving unit members. The union is entitled to information reasonably available and necessary for a full and proper negotiation.
Management is solely responsible for the following:
To determine the mission, budget, organization, number of employees, and internal security practices
To hire, assign, direct, layoff, and retain employees, or to suspend, remove, reduce in grade or pay, or to take other disciplinary action against employees
To assign work, to make determinations with respect to contracting out, and to determine the personnel by which the agency's operations will be conducted
To make selections to fill positions and promote employees in accordance with applicable rules
To take whatever actions are necessary to carry out the agency's mission during an emergency
The union can negotiate with management on behalf of its members and other employees within the defined bargaining unit over grievances and conditions of employment.
A union representative must be present, if requested by a unit member, when the employee is questioned as part of an investigation and the employee reasonably believes the questioning may result in disciplinary action against the employee. This is referred to as the "Weingarten rights." Management must annually inform all employees belonging to the bargaining unit of this right to demand a union representative.
Federal unions are prohibited from striking, but the union can picket if it does not interfere with the agency's operations.
