The rule will enable union reps for contractors to access federal property to promote union membership. Image: AFGE photo
The GSA has moved to allow union organizing in federal buildings of contractor employees by creating an exception for that purpose in the Federal Management Regulation’s general ban on outside activities being conducted on federal property.
Final rules in September 2 Federal Register with a 60-day comment period carry out a recommendation of the Biden administration’s White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment.
“The current FMR already provides an exception for union organizing activities for federal employees; however, this rule will add union organizing activities for labor organizations representing or seeking to represent contractors working in GSA-controlled property to the list of authorized exceptions to the general prohibition,” it says.
“This final rule will enable labor organizations who represent contractors working in federal government facilities to access federal property to educate federal contractors about the benefits of organizing, collective bargaining and union membership. If a security clearance is required for access to the federal property, labor organizations will still have to follow the normal process of gaining access,” it says.
It adds that the exception “does not in and of itself create a direct employment relationship with the federal government nor does it replace or prohibit the implementation of current or future federal agency or contractor policies regarding access to federal property or the regulation of conduct in or on federal property.”
The action follows OPM’s issuance in April of a set of memos either requiring or encouraging agencies to go up to the limits of federal labor law in actions to support unions in the federal workplace. That included for example providing unions a role in employee orientation processes and town hall-type events and allowing them to post information on bulletin boards and communicate with employees through agency email and intranets.
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