Bargaining Chips

If we've learned anything during the past week or so from the protests over collective bargaining rights across the country, it's that the political party in power can affect the nature of such benefits.

Both parties see their positions on collective bargaining as useful to their political base and core constituencies. Some Republicans view expansive collective bargaining as a roadblock to efficient governing and sound fiscal policy, while Democrats -- mindful of the financial and political contributions of unions to their party -- generally favor looser restrictions on workers' abilities to negotiate the terms of their employment with management.

Against that backdrop, it's interesting to watch how the saga of collective bargaining rights is unfolding at the state and federal levels. While Republican governors in states such as Wisconsin and Ohio are looking to roll back collective bargaining rights for public sector employees, the Democratic-dominated federal government is seeking to gradually broaden them for federal workers.

"While both the states and federal government are facing financial difficulties and deficits, the federal government and its unions took action in the mid-1980s to reform the retirement system for federal employees, and it is now fully funded and on sound financial footing," said National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley. "This is one reason the states are moving more aggressively, because the unions there are involved in a bigger, more immediate budget problem." Kelley noted, however, that "employees have often agreed to less pay in exchange for better retirement benefits…."

One recent victory for collective bargaining is at the Transportation Security Administration. After a decade-long debate among administrations, lawmakers and federal unions, TSA earlier this month granted limited collective bargaining rights to its 40,000 airport screeners. Created in 2001 during the Bush administration, TSA was excluded from federal regulations giving workers bargaining privileges; agency leaders had the authority to grant those rights before February, but chose not to act.

According to a memo from TSA Administrator John Pistole, employees will be able to bargain over a broad range of issues, including performance management, awards and attendance management guidelines processes, and shift bids. But they will not be able to bargain over, among other things, pay, pensions and compensation. Interestingly, wages are the only thing unions could negotiate under Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's current legislative proposal.

Veterans Affairs Department employees could end up with additional collective bargaining rights in the near future as well. Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., just introduced legislation that would repeal the prohibition on collective bargaining for VA employees on compensation other than basic pay. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, shepherded similar legislation, which languished in the Senate during the last Congress.

House and Senate Republicans also are pushing legislation on the topic, but in the opposite direction. In January, Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., unveiled the 2011 Federal Employee Accountability Act, which would repeal two sections of the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act allowing federal employees to use official work hours to perform union functions or participate in union activities. Gingrey has cited Office of Personnel Management data showing federal employees used 2.9 million official work hours to engage in collective bargaining or arbitration of grievances in fiscal 2008. Those activities cost $120.7 million, up from $113 million in fiscal 2007. He says the legislation will save $600 million over five years.

Just last week, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., tried unsuccessfully to insert an amendment to Federal Aviation Administration authorization legislation that would have prevented those TSA workers from being granted collective bargaining rights. The amendment also would have stripped those rights from more than 10,000 additional TSA employees in nonscreener positions who currently have them.

So, while many state public sector unions at the moment are nervous about the fate of their members' collective bargaining rights, federal employees seem less in danger of having their rights curtailed -- at least in the current political environment.