Credit union examiners allowed to vote on joining union

National Treasury Employees Union officials praised this week's decision to allow almost 500 field examiners from the National Credit Union Administration to vote on whether they want to be represented by a union.

On April 26, the Federal Labor Relations Authority upheld a ruling by one of its regional directors allowing 485 field examiners to take part in collective bargaining with the credit union agency. The agency had claimed that the field examiners were management officials and not eligible for union representation.

As a result of the decision, the employees are eligible to vote to choose their representation. NTEU expects the election to take place this summer.

"The decision by the FLRA puts an end to attempts by the NCUA to deny agency employees their right to vote on union representation," said NTEU President Colleen Kelley. "NCUA's consistent claims that these front-line employees were management officials did not ring true for NTEU or for the FLRA."

The NCUA oversees federally controlled credit unions.

Two of the three labor relations board members supported the regional director's decision. In a statement released Tuesday, J. Leonard Skiles, executive director of the credit union agency, accepted the decision and said the agency "will work with the FLRA and the National Treasury Employees Union to conduct an election to determine whether NTEU will be the exclusive representative of the bargaining unit of NCUA employees."

In the initial decision, the regional director said that field examiners are "technical experts" who do not meet the criteria to be designated as management, which is defined as people who "determine or influence the policies of the agency."

In upholding the decision, the full labor relations authority agreed that managers are a "discrete category of employees whose responsibilities extend beyond that of a professional or technical expert. … The disputed employees here do not fall within this category."

The dissenting FLRA board member, Chairman Dale Cabaniss, said that the credit union administration had raised sufficient doubt to warrant a review of the case. The board's ruling, however, is final.