Bush dissolves labor-management partnership council

President Bush issued an executive order Saturday dissolving the labor-management partnership council created by President Clinton in 1993. The order revokes Executive Order 12871, which created the National Partnership Council and required agencies to establish individual partnership councils and increase union involvement in agency decision-making. Bush also issued orders requiring federal contractors to notify employees of their right not to pay the portion of their union dues that goes to funding political activities; prohibiting agencies from forcing contractors to enter into agreements with unions; and revoking an order by President Clinton providing job protections for employees of contractors on federal building projects. Mark Roth, general counsel for the American Federation of Government Employees, said the union had been expecting such a move from the White House. AFGE is the largest federal employees' union, representing 600,000 government workers. "It's a sad day for Americans because the results of labor-management partnerships are well-documented. They have resulted in savings, efficiency, higher productivity and a greater focus on customers," said Roth. On Jan. 25, the Bush administration drafted the proposed executive order dissolving labor-management partnerships. The draft has been circulating around agencies for the past few weeks. In a Feb. 7 letter to Bush, AFGE President Bobby Harnage urged him to reconsider the order, listing several examples throughout government of successful labor-management collaboration. "When it is done right--when there is a deep commitment from top-level management on down to make it work and an equally strong commitment from the union to do business a new way--labor-management collaboration can make a big difference," said Harnage. Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, had also urged Bush to keep Clinton's order in place. "The President's decision is extremely disappointing given the success NTEU has had with its agency partners in improving service to taxpayers throughout the federal government," said Kelley. "Working in partnership allows agency management and federal employees to work together to solve problems that hinder effective delivery of federal services." A recent report from the conservative Heritage Foundation encouraged Bush to dissolve the partnerships, arguing that Clinton's order undermines and weakens the authority of federal managers. One of the report's authors criticized E.O. 12871 for promoting false hopes of success in labor-management partnerships, ultimately leaving many people unhappy. George Nesterczuk, vice president of Global USA Inc. and a co-author of the Heritage report, has said Clinton's executive order raised a lot of false hopes that simply authorizing labor-management partnerships would lead to successful results. Nesterczuk is a former director of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on the Civil Service. Last October, Clinton asked all agencies to report on their efforts to comply with the 1993 order. The report, released by the Office of Personnel Management in January, found that labor-management partnerships were improving, but are far from perfect.