Numerous Rights at Issue

Unions objected to numerous provisions of NSPS relating to labor relations, in particular: imposing conduct restrictions on union representatives that unions said would hamper their ability to advocate for employee interests; making DoD policy issuances override any conflicting provisions of bargaining agreements; and allowing management to avoid negotiations over issues including assigning work, determining the technology, methods and means of performing work and the arrangements for employees adversely affected by the exercise of management rights. The court majority found that the law’s language is structured so as to give DoD temporary authority through November 2009 to carve out a separate labor-management system on labor issues and that the NSPS rules were within the department’s discretion. The dissenting judge said that the law was too ambiguous to justify the planned changes in bargaining rights. The majority also found that certain labor provisions are not subject to the sunset clause, and grant management sole rights in areas such as establishing job qualification requirements, methods of assigning or promoting employees, and methods of reducing staff levels.