The General Services Administration and the American Federation of Government Employees have signed an agreement reversing GSA Administrator David Barram's decision to close eight Federal Supply Service warehouses.
AFGE and GSA agreed to reopen discussions on the GSA distribution system because "we agree that this subject is so important and affects so many people that we should make this innovative effort," Barram said in a statement released Wednesday.
Barram presented the option of reversing the shutdown decision to American Federation of Government Employees President Bobby L. Harnage in a letter sent late last week. In a copy of the letter obtained by GovExec.com, Barram indicated he would prefer not to simply reverse the decision, but to engage in "interest-based bargaining," an alternative to traditional labor-management negotiations, with AFGE to implement the closings.
"Turning back the clock is not something people do every day," Barram said.
Nevertheless, in a reply to Barram's letter Tuesday, Harnage said he'd rather start over from the beginning.
Under the agreement, AFGE Council 236 will withdraw a grievance against GSA protesting the closings and the two parties will go back to the drawing board to arrive at a solution to the financial problems of the warehouse distribution system. An independent arbitrator approved the agreement Wednesday.
For the time being, customer order routing to GSA warehouses will remain the same, stock will be replenished at warehouses as needed, the six transition teams GSA created to manage the shutdown will be disbanded, actions taken to move out of the Burlington, N.J. warehouse location will be reversed and GSA will not use the authority it has received from Congress to offer buyouts to warehouse employees.
"We will treat all operations as going concerns just as they were in mid-May," Barram said Wednesday. However, in his letter to Harnage, Barram indicated that at least one warehouse, located in Chicago, could not be reopened. Four of the eight employees at the small warehouse have already been moved to new jobs within GSA and its shelves have been emptied.
AFGE appealed GSA's July decision to close the warehouses because the shutdown could have eliminated as many as 2,000 warehouse employees' jobs. An independent arbitrator ruled that the shutdown violated an agreement with AFGE to bargain over reinvention-related initiatives. But until Tuesday, GSA had planned to appeal that decision to the Federal Labor Relations Authority.
Although the agreement will keep GSA warehouses open at least temporarily, GSA and the union will continue to negotiate solutions to financial problems in the GSA stock distribution program. According to Barram, the warehouses are expected to lose $100,000 per day this year.
Barram suggested that a working group including both labor and management officials immediately be formed to study the warehouse situation. But he hinted Wednesday that the final judgment about the status of the warehouses would remain with GSA.
"We expect to complete our work together before the end of October, at which time [Federal Supply Service Commissioner] Frank Pugliese and I will make a final decision," Barram said.
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