1 / 76

Bargaining Units Bargaining Unit Status and Union Members

Bargaining Units Bargaining Unit Status and Union Members. Melissa Baumann NFFE Forest Service Council Secretary-Treasurer. Bargaining Unit. A bargaining unit is a group of employees who are represented by a Union.

dagmar
Télécharger la présentation

Bargaining Units Bargaining Unit Status and Union Members

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Bargaining UnitsBargaining Unit Statusand Union Members Melissa Baumann NFFE Forest Service Council Secretary-Treasurer

  2. Bargaining Unit • A bargaining unit is a group of employees who are represented by a Union. • The Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) has the final say about who is in a bargaining unit. • Determinations are made based on definitions and provisions in 5 USC 71.

  3. Determination of Appropriate Unit • 5 USC 7112.     Determination of appropriate units for labor organization representation • (a) The Authority shall determine the appropriateness of any unit. The Authority shall determine in each case whether, in order to ensure employees the fullest freedom in exercising the rights guaranteed under this chapter, the appropriate unit should be established on an agency, plant, installation, functional, or other basis and shall determine any unit to be an appropriate unit only if the determination will ensure a clear and identifiable community of interest among the employees in the unit and will promote effective dealings with, and efficiency of the operations of the agency involved.

  4. Forest Service Units • The Union can propose an appropriate unit when organizing a new unit, but it must be “certified” by FLRA. • Units found to appropriate in the Forest Service Forests Regional Offices Research Stations Law Enforcement Enterprise Teams Content Analysis Team MTDC and SDTC ASC-B&F Washington Office (in DC and Arlington) Chief Information Office Law Enforcement and Investigation Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center

  5. Bargaining Unit Employee • Bargaining Unit Employee (BUE) or Bargaining Unit Member (BUM) is an employee who is a member of a bargaining unit. • BUEs may or may not be dues-paying members • 5 USC 71 sets out certain exclusions for who can be in a bargaining unit.

  6. Exclusions from Units • 5 USC 7112 (b) Sets out exclusions from appropriate bargaining units: • Management officials • Supervisors • Confidential employees • Personnel Work • Administering the Labor Statute • Unit containing both professionals and non-professionals • National Security • Investigation/audit

  7. Exclusions: Management Official or Supervisor • 7112. Determination of appropriate units for labor organization representation • (b)     A unit shall not be determined to be appropriate under this … if it includes— • (1) except as provided under section 7135(a)(2) of this title, any management official or supervisor;

  8. Exclusions: Management Official • 5 USC 7103(a)(11) -- “Management official" means an individual employed by an agency in a position the duties and responsibilities of which require or authorize the individual to formulate, determine, or influence the policies of the agency

  9. Exclusions: Management Official • The FLRA has defined a management official to include individuals who: • 1) create, establish or prescribe general principles, plans or courses of action; • 2) decide upon or settle upon general principles, plans or courses of action; or • 3) bring about or obtain a result as to the adoption of general plans, principles or courses of action. (59 FLRA 858) • Note: Private Sector includes people who “effectuate” policy. Federal does NOT.

  10. Exclusions: Management Official Examples • Employees who interpret regulations and policies and have decision-making authority within that framework do not effectively make or shape policy. Department of Veterans Affairs, 60 FLRA 749, 2005. • A highly specialized individual who rendered advice to management that was usually accepted was not a management official. The advice was subject to successive levels of review. DOL, Mine Safety and Health Administration, 37 FLRA 1151, 1990. • Senior contracting officers were not deemed management officials because their decisions were guided by federal acquisition regulations and agency policies. Defense Logistics Agency, 48 FLRA 285, 1993.

  11. Exclusions: Supervisor • 5 USC 7113(a)(10) -- “Supervisor" means an individual employed by an agency having authority in the interest of the agency to hire, direct, assign, promote, reward, transfer, furlough, layoff, recall, suspend, discipline, or remove employees, to adjust their grievances, or to effectively recommend such action, if the exercise of the authority is not merely routine or clerical in nature but requires the consistent exercise of independent judgment, except that, with respect to any unit which includes firefighters or nurses, the term "supervisor" includes only those individuals who devote a preponderance of their employment time to exercising such authority (5 USC 7113(a)(10))

  12. Exclusions: Supervisor • Anyone who exercises supervisory authority is a supervisor and excluded from the bargaining unit. This authority includes: authority to hire, direct, assign, promote, reward, transfer, furlough, layoff, recall, suspend, discipline, or remove employees, to adjust their grievances. • Except for Nurses and Firefighters: There is no limit on the amount of time that someone supervises that allows them to remain in the bargaining unit. • Team leaders are generally NOT supervisors and are included in the bargaining unit.

  13. Exclusions: SupervisorExamples • An employee will be considered a supervisor if the employee consistently exercises independent judgment with regard to one or more of the supervisory indicia set forth in the statute. National Mediation Board, 56 FLRA 1, 2000, 1990. • In order to be excluded from the bargaining unit, firefighters must perform one or more of the supervisory duties enumerated in the statute, and do so for a preponderance of the time. Army Parks Reserve Training Center, 61 FLRA 537, 2006. • An employee may be considered a supervisor if the employee exercises independent judgment in the evaluation of employee performance and that evaluation is considered by upper management in taking an action listed among the indicia of supervisory authority. Department of Labor, 59 FLRA 853, 2004.

  14. Exclusions: SupervisorsExample: Fire Supervisors • A park ranger is in charge of a crew of three seasonal workers during the fire season. During this period, the park ranger assigns work to, and often works side by side with, the crew, and evaluates them individually on a monthly basis. The park ranger’s year-end appraisals of his crew members are reviewed by the Fire Manager, who uses the appraisals to decide whether the employees are recommended for rehire. • The FLRA determined that he performed supervisory duties, as defined under the statute. However, they also determined that he was a firefighter. Thus, his bargaining unit status depends on whether he performs supervisory duties for more than 50% of his time. Santa Monica Mtns., 50 FLRA 31, 1995.

  15. Exclusions: Confidential Employee • 7112. Determination of appropriate units for labor organization representation • (b)     A unit shall not be determined to be appropriate under this … if it includes— • (2)     a confidential employee;

  16. Exclusions: Confidential Employee • 5 USC 7103(a)(13) -- “Confidential employee" means an employee who acts in a confidential capacity with respect to an individual who formulates or effectuates management policies in the field of labor-management relations

  17. Exclusions: Confidential Employee Examples • Employees who handled grievances and attended meetings where labor-management matters were discussed were significantly involved in labor-management relations. DHHS Office of the General Counsel, 45 FLRA 894 (1992). • A secretary for an executive whose secretarial duties included the occasional review of correspondence on personnel matters was not in a confidential position; access to those materials was not determinative if there was no other work in a confidential capacity for a person who formulated or effectuated management policies in the field of labor relations. FMCS and NAGE Local R3-118, 5 FLRA 28 , (1981).

  18. Exclusions: Personnel Work • 7112. Determination of appropriate units for labor organization representation • (b)     A unit shall not be determined to be appropriate under this … if it includes— • (3)     an employee engaged in personnel work in other than a purely clerical capacity; • There is no statutory definition of “personnel work.”

  19. Exclusions: Personnel WorkExamples • For a position to be excluded under this section, it must be determined that the incumbent in the position is involved in work directly relating to the personnel operations of the employee's agency. 832nd Combat Support Group, Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., 23 FLRA 768 (1986). • The character and extent of involvement of the incumbent in personnel work must be more than clerical in nature and the duties of the position in question must not be performed in a routine manner. The incumbent must exercise independent judgment and discretion in carrying out the personnel duties. Soc. Sec. Admin., 56 FLRA 1015, 1018 (2000), citing Dep’t of the Treasury, Internal Rev. Serv., Wash., D.C., 36 FLA 138, 144 (1990).

  20. Exclusions: Administering this Chapter • 7112. Determination of appropriate units for labor organization representation • (b)     A unit shall not be determined to be appropriate under this … if it includes-- • (4)     an employee engaged in administering the provisions of this chapter; • These are primarily the employees in the HR Labor Relations branch.

  21. Professional and Non-Professional • 7112. Determination of appropriate units for labor organization representation • (b)     A unit shall not be determined to be appropriate under this … if it includes-- • (5)     both professional employees and other employees, unless a majority of the professional employees vote for inclusion in the unit;

  22. Aside: Who is a “Professional?” • Generally, professional employees are those employees whose work requires advance knowledge of a type that is usually acquired in an institution of higher learning. • In practice, the OPM Qualifications Handbook will give you a good idea of who is considered a “professional” among the GS series. • http://www.opm.gov/qualifications/standards/index-Standards.asp

  23. Use the Group Coverage Qualification Standard for Technical and Medical Support Positions…

  24. Use the Group Coverage Qualification Standard for Professional and Scientific Positions…

  25. Pros and Non-Pros in FS • In the Forest Service we have two consolidated bargaining units: • Professional employees • Non-Professional employees because the professionals have not voted to be included in the same bargaining unit as the non-professionals. • This is why MA Appendix A has two lists. • However, in practice, we treat the two bargaining units as a single unit.

  26. Exclusions: National Security • 7112. Determination of appropriate units for labor organization representation • (b)     A unit shall not be determined to be appropriate under this … if it includes— • (6)     any employee engaged in intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or security work which directly affects national security; • Forest Service has few, if any, National Security positions.

  27. Exclusions: Investigation or Audit Functions • 7112. Determination of appropriate units for labor organization representation • (b)     A unit shall not be determined to be appropriate under this … if it includes-- • (7)     any employee primarily engaged in investigation or audit functions relating to the work of individuals employed by an agency whose duties directly affect the internal security of the agency, but only if the functions are undertaken to ensure that the duties are discharged honestly and with integrity.

  28. Exclusions: Investigation or Audit Functions • OIG auditors should be excluded from the bargaining unit under 5 USC 7112(b)(7). Their audit functions, which could uncover employee fraud, misuse of funds, or malfeasance, related to internal security. U.S. Small Business Administration and AFGE, Local 2532 and Council 228, 34 FLRA 392, (1990). • Internal Auditors reviewing the work of individuals whose duties involved the implementation of agency programs were excluded from the bargaining unit. The audits were designed to detect possible fraud, waste, and abuse in the work of agency employees whose duties directly affected the agency's internal security. Department of the Navy, Naval Audit Service, Southeast Region and NFFE , 46 FLRA 512, (1992). • Investigative Technicians at a prison were determined to be in the bargaining unit because only 20% of their time was spent in investigating staff misconduct or audits. Bureau of Prisons, McCreary, and AFGE, 63 FLRA 153, (2009).

  29. Important note on exclusions • Determinations of exclusions are based on the duties actually performed, NOT on the position description, series, grade, or title. • NOT based on what the Agency thinks they might do in the future.

  30. Issues with our Bargaining Unit and Membership Lists

  31. Symptoms of a problem • Locals are seeing members being dropped from their membership lists. • These are due to AGENCY errors, not Union errors. • Remedies must be sought through the Agency.

  32. Statutory provision for dues • 5 USC 7115 -- Allotments to representatives – If an agency has received from an employee in an appropriate unit a written assignment which authorizes the agency to deduct from the pay of the employee amounts for the payment of regular and periodic dues of the exclusive representative of the unit, the agency shall honor the assignment and make an appropriate allotment pursuant to the assignment. Any such allotment shall be made at no cost to the exclusive representative or the employee. Except as provided under subsection (b) of this section, any such assignment may not be revoked for a period of 1 year.

  33. Key Contractual Provisions • Article 1 – Recognition and Unit Designation • Article 7 – Union Use of Official Facilities and Services • Article 39 – Voluntary Allotment of Union Dues • Appendix B – USDA-NFFE MOU ond Dues Withholding • Memorandum of Understanding – Dues Allotments, February 7, 2008 • Memorandum of Understanding -- Union Dues Allotment Processing, February 12, 2009

  34. Article 1.3 • a. Management shall not change the status of bargaining unit positions without first notifying the Union with rationale for the change. The Union will notify Management with rationale within 30 days if they disagree with the change. If the parties are unable to agree on the position’s bargaining unit status, Management may file a petition to clarify unit with the Federal Labor Relations Authority. The disputed positions will remain in the bargaining unit until such time as a decision is reached on the petition. • b. The Union will notify management when it believes the bargaining unit status of a position should be changed prior to filing a petition with the FLRA. If the parties are unable to agree the Union may file a petition.

  35. Article 7.5 • List of Employees: Upon request the Forest Service agrees to furnish to the Union, at the appropriate level, usually not more than quarterly, an up-to-date list of employees in the organizational unit showing name, position, title, grade, and step, Bargaining Unit Status code (BUS), Fair Labor Standards Act code, and official duty station. Additional information will be furnished upon request on a case-by-case basis in compliance with the Privacy Act and case law.

  36. Article 39 • Any member of a bargaining unit may make voluntary allotment of dues, in accordance with USDA-NFFE MOU. • If USDA-NFFE agreement expires or is not renegotiated, the Parties agree that the voluntary allotment of dues will continue until a new Agreement between the USDA and NFFE is negotiated. • When an employee changes from one Local to another, Form AD-356, Dues Change Between Locals Within a National Labor Organization, must be completed. • The gaining unit should process the Form AD-356 for employees transferring to an organized unit. • The losing unit should process Form AD-356A, Cancellation of Withholding of Dues to Labor Organizations and Associations of Supervisors or Managers, for employees transferring to an unorganized unit or to a unit where the employee is no longer a member of the bargaining unit (i.e., professional employee to nonprofessional bargaining unit).

  37. Appendix B • Agreement to withhold dues • Procedures for submitting SF-1187 • Employee info, including SSN • Signature of authorized union official • Process within 5 days of receipt • Send copy to NFFE Headquarters • Dues remittance reports sent to NFFE HQ • Dues may be set at one amount for whole Local, or individually. Changes may be made twice a year. • Cancellation of dues withholding will only be processed once a year. All forms must be in by August 15.

  38. How to find errors in the BU • “Get a List” • Request from your LRA (UNIONCM5 for your unit), per Article 7. • FSC Secretary-Treasurer gets one quarterly and can provide you with the information. • Review list to determine if people’s codes are correct. • Pay special attention to be sure that union members have not had their codes changed.

  39. So much info… • Organization Codes: LV2, LV3, LV4, LV5 • Name, PP-Ser-Gr-Stp, Title • City, St • BUS = Bargaining Unit Status Code • Sup = Supervisory Code • FLSA = Fair Labor Standards Act • Local = Local number • Dues = Dues amount the employee is paying

  40. Organizational Codes • Lv2 = Region, Station, Dep. Area in WO, or LE&I • Lv3 = Next sublevel (often Forest) • Lv4 = Next sublevel (often District) • Lv5 = Next sublevel…. • Many of the org codes can be found on HRM website.

  41. Bargaining Unit Status Codes • 0634 or 2009 -- Currently in the Forest Service NFFE Professional or Non-professional Bargaining Unit • 7777 – Not in a bargaining unit, but eligible to be in one. • 8888 – Not eligible to be in a bargaining unit. • Supervisors, managers, confidential, personnel work… • Any other – Represented by another bargaining unit.

  42. Supervisory Codes • 2 and 4 -- Supervisor or Manager , Position meets the definition of Supervisor in 5 U.S.C. 7103(a)(10). • 5 -- Management Official (CSRA) Position meets the definition of Management Official in 5 U.S.C. 7103(a)(11), but is not a supervisor • 6 -- Leader in wage system or one-grade interval work. • 7 -- Team Leader in two-grade interval work. • 8 -- All Other Positions

  43. Other Information in UNIONCM5 • Fair Labor Standards Act • E = Exempt • N = Non-exempt • NOTE: FLSA status has nothing to do with bargaining unit status. • Union Local • Union Dues • Date (not all members have dates)

  44. How do you recognize errors? • Red Flag – BUScode is 8888 and Supervisory code is 8. • This combination should only occur if someone meets the exemptions for • Confidential Audit/Investigation • Personnel work National Security • Other common issues • Wrong BUS code for Pros/Non-Pros • Wrong BUS code for temporary employees • Errors often occur when an employee has a change in status (promotion, change in benefits, detail, etc.)

  45. Examples from Shasta-T

  46. Shasta-T Bargaining Units • From Appendix A in Master Agreement* • Professionals • INCLUDED: All professional employees of the Shasta Trinity National Forest. • EXCLUDED: All management officials, nonprofessional employees, supervisors, 30 day special need employees, and employees described in 5 U.S.C. §7112(b)(2), (3), (4), (6) and (7). • Non-Professionals • INCLUDED: All nonprofessional employees of the Shasta Trinity National Forest. • EXCLUDED: All management officials, professional employees, supervisors, 30 day special need employees, and employees described in 5 U.S.C. §7112(b)(2), (3), (4), (6) and (7). *Note: Appendix A is just for reference. FLRA is the keeper of the Certification. Updates are posted on the HRM website.

More Related