Federal Government Policy and Business

House Democrat Calls on Labor Authority to Overturn 'Radical' Changes to Legal Precedent

Government Executive: The chairman of a House committee focused on federal workforce issues has called on the Federal Labor Relations Authority to rescind a trio of “radical policy decisions” issued by the agency in September that overturned decades of precedent and severely reduced the scope of matters over which unions may negotiate with agencies.

The decisions, all dated Sept. 30, together amount to a sea change in the rules governing federal labor-management relations. The first changes the standard for whether an agency policy change triggers a duty to bargain over implementation and impact on employees from “greater than de minimis” to “substantial,” while the second decision makes zipper clauses, which limit negotiations during the term of a union contract, mandatory subjects of bargaining.

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