DoD Announces Labor Plans

The Defense Department has released an outline of the changes in labor relations policy that it plans in its new personnel system, involving revisions to central labor-management issues including how negotiations will be conducted, what is negotiable, who is eligible for union membership and the policies governing the payment of union dues. Unions representing DoD employees immediately objected, saying the changes could mean the elimination of formal collective bargaining in favor of a non-binding consultative arrangement, plus the end of certain union rights that have built up over the years both in negotiations and through decisions by outside bodies including the courts and the Federal Labor Relations Authority-which under the proposal no longer would have jurisdiction over DoD. The release of the policy begins what could be as much as a 90-day period of consultation and potential mediation over the planned revisions, although under the law authorizing the “national security personnel system” DoD would have the last word after notifying Congress and explaining its reasons for its decisions.