NTEU signs contract expanding bargaining rights for NCHS employees

The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) signed a collective bargaining agreement Monday for employees at the National Center for Health Care Statistics that includes a provision to bargain over workplace issues.

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) is a part of the Department of Health and Human Services' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"This agreement will allow employees to have a meaningful and effective voice in a variety of workplace issues," said NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley.

In a 1993 executive order (No. 12871), President Clinton instructed federal managers to set up partnership councils with unions and to bargain with unions over more workplace issues. These so-called "permissive" issues include the number of jobs, the classification of positions and the technology provided for employees' use. Groups representing federal managers have vehemently opposed permissive bargaining, saying that such issues are traditionally reserved for management's discretion.

A NCHS spokesman said that Executive Order 12871 was cited in the contract, but that specifics on how it will be carried out were not included. The agency is currently in the process of setting up a local partnership council, per the executive order.

Among the permissive issues that will be bargained over are alternative work schedules and flexiplace programs. NTEU represents about 350 NCHS employees at both administrative and professional levels.

The collective bargaining agreement sets up a new flexiplace schedule for employees that would allow them to earn and use credit hours, vary starting and ending times each day and schedule eight or nine day bi-weekly work schedules.