Labor-Management Relations Statute, Chapter 71 of Title 5 of the U.S. Code, 5 U.S.C. 451. The FLRA claimed that judicial review was barred by the sixty day statute of limitations. Tr. . Regional Offices., National Labor Relations Board. The Authority has defined impasse as that point in negotiations at which the parties are unable to reach agreement.. It makes no sense for the Agency to use the ground rules to declare that bargaining was over, when those very ground rules enabled either party to initiate mediation. that the Agency had had the drawings for a month at that point in time. Tr. The Railway Labor Act (RLA) is a federal law that was passed in 1926 to govern labor relations in the railroad industry, and amended in 1936 to include the airline industry. . Accordingly, I recommend that the Authority adopt the following Order: Pursuant to 2423.41(c) of the Rules and Regulations of the Authority and 7118 of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (theStatute), the National Labor Relations Board (the Agency) shall: (a) Terminating bargaining over the relocation of its headquarters office prior to reaching an agreement or prior to reaching an impasse with the National Labor Relations Board Union (the Union). Tr. We had only exchanged two [sets of] proposals. Tr. Thus, when the Union asked to bargain on February 5, the Agency was required to do so. Issue. The next day, May 7, most of the Union team participated in a videoconference with NLRB General Counsel Griffin and Rachel Lennie, which focused primarily on the Unions pending information requests and its need to have this information in order to bargain properly. Also on February 5, Durkin emailed Jones an information request, asking for any and all documents and records showing the floor plan, layout and/or design, for the Half Street building, as well as a timeline for the relocation process. Which Jobs and Sectors Are Not Protected by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)? Tr. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Jones testified that his team tried to find areas where we could compromise[,] but he acknowledged that they did not provide specific counterproposals for each Union proposal. 3 at 1. Other labor laws of note are the Railway Labor Act (RLA), the Federal Labor Relations Act (FLRA), as well as state labor laws that govern bargaining rights of state employees. Jones suggested meeting April 15-17, with the first day spent touring Half Street and hearing from officials involved in the move, and Durkin agreed. The FLRA is the federal public sector counterpart to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which governs labor relations between private sector employees and employers. 1(c). 221. 43-44, 323, 404; GC Ex. Tr. Jt. . Accordingly, the Union will submit a proposal and/or counterproposal to the Agencys 4/24/14 counterproposal on April 30, 2014. Meanwhile, it withheld from the Union the ongoing dialogue between Agency officials and the new buildings architects about the proposed plans for the new headquarters. The three members cannot be from the same political party. As for whether the parties had reached impasse by the end of the April 23-24 bargaining session, Durkin stated that they had not, noting that neither party submitted last best offers or asserted they were at impasse. In accordance with directives from the General Services Administration (GSA), the Agency was authorized to lease no more than 155,000 rentable square feet of office space, nearly a 40% reduction from the 247,219 square feet it leased at Franklin Court. In response to the unions argument that excluding it from negotiations with the prospective landlord would prevent it from contributing to the important decisions affecting the relocation, the judge said: Since it is the responsibility of an agency seeking to make the change to insure that it has fulfilled its bargaining obligation before implementation . Tr. That AFSCME reaffirms our commitment to lead the battle to fight for a National Labor Relations Board and a Federal Labor Relations Authority which supports workers rights. GC Ex. Employees can file a charge against and employer and labor union at one of its 26 regional offices and the NLRB will investigate. Every Bundle includes the complete text from each of the titles below: PLUS: Hundreds of law school topic-related videos from GC Ex. . All of the Unions proposals relating to size and configuration were dismissed out of hand by Jones, and the Unions refusal to accept his rejection of those proposals was interpreted as intransigence. Protecting rights and facilitating stable relationships among federal agencies, labor organizations, and employees while advancing an effective and efficient government through the administration of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute. Ex. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent federal agency created in 1935 and vested with the power to safeguard employees' rights to organize, engage with one another to seek better working conditions, choose whether or not to have a collective bargaining representative negotiate on their behalf with their employer, or refrain The boards job is to determine whether labor violations have occurred, while the general counsel acts as a supervisor and prosecutor. As a result, when formal bargaining with the Union began on April 23, the floor plans were largely fixed, as the GC claims. The primary responsibilities of the FLRA are to: Resolve complaints of unfair labor practices (ULPs). He repeated managements view that if the parties had continued negotiating, they might have been able to reach an agreement, or narrow the issues . and agreed to get it to us as soon as he was able to. Tr. 22 at 3-5. The Agency cut bargaining off before this could happen. They were joined by Lennie, Abruzzo, and Robert Schiff, the Chairmans Chief of Staff. The NLRB covers most of the private sector. Labor law governs union and management relationships and employee collective bargaining rights. Introduction to the FLRA.. GC Ex. (All communication between the parties was by email, unless otherwise noted.) When Jones forwarded these drawings to the Union the same day, it was the first time the Union had seen any drawings or floor plans for the new building. as a full agreement. GC Ex. However, Lennie indicated that the Agency would look into seeing whether they could find additional space for more stalls. . LEARN MORE Introduction to the FLRA Register for Training eFiling Getting Started FILE A CASE 16. With regard to the dates for bargaining, Durkin testified that the ground rules agreement went into detail concerning face-to-face bargaining, but not concerning other types of bargaining such as by email or teleconference. . The FLRA is charged with safeguarding. In order to evaluate this defense, I consider the meaning of the ground rules agreement, using the standards and principles of interpreting agreements applied by arbitrators and the federal courts. By specifying the dates on which negotiations would occur, and by eliminating language proposed by the Union that referred to the sessions as initial bargaining, this language suggests that these were the only two days on which bargaining was required, and that further bargaining would be scheduled only by mutual consent. 431. . Tr. . Resp. Case digests provide a brief synopsis of the most pertinent principles in merits decisions issued by the Authority. GCExs. "University of Southern California. . GC Ex. With respect to the Agencys obligation to bargain over the relocation, Jones testified, We gave them the drawings. About two hours later, the Union team submitted five of its own counterproposals, which the Agency rejected. 450. we cant bargain all of these day-to-day decisions., With respect to Union Proposal 9 that employees who had worked in offices at Franklin Court would continue to have offices at Half Street (as opposed to the cubicles shown in the floor plans) Jones responded that Washington Resident Office employees would have offices, but that all of the support staff would be in 48 s.f. . The agency also acts to prevent and remedy unfair labor practices committed by private sector employers and unions. He indicated that at that point in the process, major changes, such as adding movable walls or more bathroom stalls, would be difficult, if not impossible. However, on November 21, Jones advised the Union negotiating team that the Agency was in the process of finalizing its furniture order for the new building, and he invited the Union to participate in bargaining by telephone over any Union proposals concerning furniture on November 24. The Agency isnt even prepared to make decisions on these aspects[] of the relocation. With regard to whether the ground rules agreement limited bargaining to April 23-24, Jones testified that he removed the word initial from the Unions proposed ground rules, stating, I wanted people to understand . measurements of those offices. The Union team found several of the Agency proposals vague, as the Agency offered to use its best efforts to obtain certain design features (for example, Proposal 8) and agreed to other features only to the extent [that] the architects [WDG] can incorporate them into the drawings (for example, Proposals 19 and 20). . After the Union team spent most of April 23 touring the Franklin Court building, Jones expressed his impatience with the lack of actual bargaining and emphasized that negotiations would conclude at the end of the day on April 24. By mutual agreement, the parties may agree to additional dates for face-to-face bargaining. . With regard to the effect of the relocation on bargaining unit employees, it was undisputed that approximately 450 NLRB employees (including approximately 62 members of the NLRBU bargaining unit) would be required to work in a new building location in a different area of the city. Vikki Velasquez is a researcher and writer who has managed, coordinated, and directed various community and nonprofit organizations. Ithink the idea was we would exchange . . Jt. 335-36. 162, 250, 285-86, 349-52, 474, 477; GC Ex. 113. The Union team also asked about furniture. According to Luther, Sutton also said that there had been a great deal of work with [various Agency officials] . Each year, a new board member is appointed by the president, with the blessing of the Senate, for a five-year term. Concepts we will address include: 236. NLRBs challenge fell within the third category and warranted judicial consideration. The Respondent argues that its actions were justified, given the fact that it was under pressure to give the architects comments on the preliminary drawings by May 9. Was NLRB barred by the statute of limitations? . GC Ex. The general counsel is responsible for supervising the NLRBs field offices and processing of cases as well as investigating and prosecuting unfair labor practices. Jones offered the Union a chance to bargain over furniture by telephone, adding, As you may recall, we had some discussions about furniture during the negotiations that took place in April, and you may want to review the Agencys counterproposal of April 24 . Griffin also referred to competing concerns from the different divisions within the Agency. Tr. By the time negotiations began with the Union on April 23, it was apparently too late for such changes: the Union was told it could only tweak the floor plans. Jones was asked whether he had any version of the drawings, draft or otherwise, that he was not disclosing. After lunch, Jones stated that the Agency was willing to bargain late into the day on April 24, but they would not bargain after that day. The key question is whether additional bargaining (in which the good faith of both parties is presumed) might produce an agreement. In the proposed ground rules, the Union called for an initial bargaining session. Since the Respondents ULP in this case was its improper termination of bargaining over the impact and implementation of the proposed relocation, it is clear that an appropriate remedy must (among other things) order the Agency to return to the bargaining table and resume negotiations from the point at which they ended on April 24. The agency also acts to prevent and remedy unfair labor practices committed by private sector employers and unions. 116. 115. According to Durkin, Jones said no, were not going to continue bargaining. With regard to Proposal 1, which required the Agency to keep the Union informed about the relocation, Jones said it has always been our intention to keep the Union informed. Finally, the GC requests a nationwide posting. . Jt. After investigating the charge, the Regional Director of the FLRAs Chicago Region issued a Complaint and Notice of Hearing on January 12, 2015, on behalf of the FLRAs General Counsel (GC), alleging that, On May 15, 2014, the R. espondent . P. Br. . Tr. Tr. 5. 8 at 2. 401. The National Labor Relations Board is an independent federal agency vested with the power to safeguard employees' rights to organize and to determine whether to have unions as their bargaining representative. President John F. Kennedy (Memorandum to the Heads of Agencies on Employee-Management Relations in the Federal Service, June 22, 1961). 126-28. Employers and employees seeking help with labor or employment matters would be well-served to ensure they hire an attorney that specialize in the area of law for which they need the help. The Agencys proposed interpretation of the ground rules also ignores paragraph 13, which states that either party may request mediation from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). Mutual consent is not required for mediation. Tr. 1947 Taft-Hartley Substantive Provisions., National Labor Relations Board. In setting forth the distinction, Ill start with labor laws because they represent a much narrower area of law than employment laws. Durkin and Luther complied. Tr. The Agency insists that a fixed date for concluding negotiations is implied in the ground rules, but the law requires such a waiver of the Unions statutory rights to be explicit. 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