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By: FEDweek StaffThe FLRA has ruled in favor of the AFGE union in a dispute over a motion to decertify a bargaining unit—a type of request that arises rarely in the federal workplace but in this case set a precedent because it involved a novel situation.
The case involved a request by a National Park Service employee to have the FLRA decertify the unit shortly after it was formed by a consolidation of a prior AFGE unit and one of another union. While federal labor law and the FLRA’s rules bar such requests within 12 months after a unit is certified following a representation election, a question arose whether that time limit applies as well to units established through a consolidation.
The FLRA last year sought input on that question, saying it never had directly addressed that situation.
In its decision, the FLRA held that while the law did not explicitly bar the request, the FLRA’s own rules did. Those rules say that the FLRA will not consider a request for decertification within 12 months “after the certification of the exclusive representative of the employees in an appropriate unit.”
By not distinguishing between certifications following a representation election and certifications following a consolidation, the “plain wording supports a certification bar that encompasses all certifications,” it said.
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