A subcommittee of the National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations has reported progress toward a goal of creating common language for use in collective bargaining agreements on certain common issues, in order to save time during negotiations and lessen chances of differing interpretations from one place to the next on essentially the same matter.
One such draft involves a contract preamble, in which management would explicitly recognize that “labor organizations and collective bargaining in the civil service are in the public interest,” citing on language in federal labor law establishing certain union rights.
Other language also would have management explicitly recognize the union as the exclusive representative of all employees in the bargaining unit, while the union would promise to represent them equally without regard to their union membership—also citing principles found in federal labor law.
Further, the parties would jointly recognize that dues withholding is based on exclusive recognition granted to the union and covers all eligible employees in the unit.
The council is continuing to work on the issue.
