OPM seeks to tally union use of taxpayers’ time

The Bush administration is asking agencies to tally how many hours federal employees spend on the clock each year as union representatives. Office of Personnel Management Director Kay Coles James asked federal officials in a June 17 memo to submit in October the first annual report on use of "official time" for union duties. James said OPM analysts would compare the data with the size of bargaining units at each agency and examine "unusually high or low usage." "Establishing a clear set of reporting requirements for official time sends a strong signal that labor and management understand their joint obligation to use public funds wisely," James said in the memo. Federal law allows government workers to get paid for some of the time they spend performing union duties, such as negotiating collective bargaining agreements, representing co-workers in grievances or getting training in labor-management relations. Agencies and unions negotiate the terms of official time for union duties. Under the law, union representatives can't spend official time soliciting new members, collecting dues or campaigning for union elections. The use of official time for union duties has sparked numerous battles before the Federal Labor Relations Authority, which hears disputes between management and union representatives. The issue has also generated several congressional hearings, General Accounting Office reviews and inspector general investigations over the years. In many agencies, collective bargaining agreements set the standards for the official use of time. Managers often have to sign off on official time use. In addition, many agencies already have reporting systems that track how much time employees spend on union activities. In November 1998, OPM reported that about 24,000 federal workers used 2.2 million hours of official time for union activities during the first six months of that year. The cost of that time was $48 million. During the Clinton administration, OPM concluded that it was money well-spent. "The use of official time for early or pre-decisional involvement by union representatives and bargaining unit employees can lead to quicker implementation of agency initiatives without potentially time-consuming and disruptive formal negotiations," OPM said in the November 1998 report. But Heritage Foundation analysts have argued that subsidizing union activities is a waste of the taxpayers' money. "Official time is a direct taxpayer subsidy that allows members of federal employee unions to tend to union business rather than the public's business," Heritage analyst Kenneth Weinstein said in an April 1997 report. Linda Bennett, a legislative representative for the American Federation of Government Employees, said union representatives use official time to work with managers to improve government operations. Since Sept. 11, union representatives have worked to improve federal building security and develop procedures for handling mail in the wake of the anthrax mailings. "While an accounting of official time is appropriate, we must ensure that such reporting requirements not diminish or chill the legitimate, reasonable and responsible use of official time or dampen managers' interest in utilizing the representatives of frontline employees in efforts to improve governmental operations," Bennett said. James said in her memo that after this year, OPM may ask for more information than just the total hours of official time to make sure that official time is being used appropriately. James also issued a memo on June 21 calling on federal managers to work cooperatively with labor unions to improve government service. One of President Bush's first management actions after his inauguration was to reverse President Clinton's executive order expanding union involvement in agency decision-making through labor-management partnership agreements. "While agencies are no longer required to form partnerships with their unions, they are strongly encouraged to establish cooperative labor-management relations," James said in the memo.