Report finds progress in labor-management partnerships

Partnerships between labor unions and federal managers aren't perfect but are improving, according to a long-awaited report that assesses labor-management relations in the federal government. The Office of Personnel Management released the report on Tuesday. It compiles information submitted by 38 agencies and 29 unions describing the effectiveness of labor-management partnership councils in improving agency operations. Under Executive Order 12871, agencies are required to establish partnership councils to increase union involvement in agency decision-making. President Clinton issued the order in 1993. In October, Clinton asked all federal agencies to report on their efforts to comply with Executive Order 12871. "While much work remains to be done, I am convinced that we are on the right track," said OPM Director Janice Lachance. "The evidence shows a real shift toward labor-management cooperation and away from the adversarial approach so common in the past."

One key area the report explores is whether managers negotiate with unions over so-called "permissive" subjects. Often referred to as "(b)(1) issues," they include the numbers, types, and grades of employees or jobs. Managers have traditionally reserved the right to make decisions on such matters, but the 1993 executive order instructed them to put (b)(1) issues on the bargaining table.

Only nine agencies reported agreements to negotiate over (b)(1) issues, and only six of those agencies have applied the agreements to the entire agency. Eight agencies did not report any (b)(1) activities, and 21 agencies said they work as partners with unions to address these issues. Several examples of successful (b)(1) bargaining were listed, including partnerships at the Departments of Agriculture, Labor and Transportation, as well as at the Internal Revenue Service.

Most agencies reported doing little research to gauge what impact labor-management practices had on performance. OPM attributed this to the lack of good evaluation models. The National Partnership Council, a governmentwide labor-management committee,is conducting a study of eight agencies to help remedy the problem.

Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said the report "clearly demonstrates that partnership has created a meaningful alternative to the traditional adversarial approach that long dominated labor-management relations in the federal sector."

OPM's report offered six recommendations for improving labor-management relations:

• Make stronger commitments to training and education
• Maintain continuity in the face of a turnover
• Place greater greater focus on labor-management strategic planning
• Promote stronger, more visible leadership from both labor and management
• Expand membership on the National Partnership Council
• Establish closer ties between agency labor relations directors and unions.