Federal managers' organizations are rising up in opposition to a Clinton administration proposal to force agencies to give employees' unions more bargaining rights.
Three federal managers' groups-the Federal Managers Association, the Professional Managers Association and the National Council of Social Security Management Associations-have written letters to Vice President Al Gore opposing the plan. The Senior Executives Association, which represents the government's top career managers, has concerns with the plan.
Under a draft memorandum the administration is floating, agency heads would have to agree to negotiate with unions on certain issues that they are now permitted-but not required-to bargain over. These so-called "permissive" issues include the number of jobs, the classification of positions and the technology provided to employees.
The memorandum would put political pressure on agencies that have ignored President Clinton's 1993 Executive Order 12871, which called on federal managers to negotiate with unions over permissive issues. The order also promoted labor-management partnerships, rather than traditional bargaining methods, for solving problems.
Federal Managers Association President Michael Styles wrote Gore that an edict mandating more bargaining rights would cause greater tension between management and unions.
"FMA believes that partnership and not a return to statute-based confrontational labor-management relations represents the best approach" to improving the federal workplace, Styles wrote.
Ron Niesing, president of the National Council of Social Security Management Associations, told Gore that a memorandum forcing agencies' hands would be premature. Partnership takes time to develop, and Gore should give agencies more time to foster positive relations with the unions, Niesing wrote.
In a recent survey by Gore's National Partnership for Reinventing Government, 27 percent of of federal employees said labor-management relations at their agencies were poor, while 25 percent said management and unions work cooperatively on solving problems (48 percent voiced no opinion). NPR Director Morley Winograd said in December that the administration is not happy with those results.
But Professional Managers Association President Ray Woolner wrote Gore that permissive bargaining is not necessary for successful labor-management partnerships. At the IRS, the National Treasury Employees Union has played a key role in the agency's reform efforts without permissive bargaining rights, Woolner said.
On the other hand, at the Federal Aviation Administration, officials struck a deal last year with the air traffic controllers union that included deals on permissive bargaining issues. The FAA will cut management positions by 700 over the next few years to pay for higher controller salaries under the agency's agreement with the union.
Carol Bonosaro, president of the Senior Executives Association, said the FAA's experience wasn't entirely a positive one. One FAA unit couldn't upgrade its computers from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 because the union opposed the improvement, she said.
Bonosaro said it makes sense that the administration would want managers to follow the President's executive order, but senior executives have reported frustrations with sharing management responsibilities and rights with the unions. The administration should consider managers' concerns before further pushing permissive bargaining, she said.
"If I were a political appointee, I think I would be offended that I'd be required to sign a pledge," Bonosaro said.
An administration official said a majority of agencies have expressed concern with the draft memorandum, but noted that several agency heads, including Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, support permissive bargaining rights for unions. The administration is considering managers' concerns, but is committed to expanding the scope of bargaining, the official said. The administration is aiming to issue the memorandum, or some other mechanism to increase permissive bargaining, later this month, the official said.
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