Two executive orders from President Trump would restrict union involvement in agency workplace policies and the availability of official time, paid time during working hours that employees with union roles can spend on certain union-related duties.
Collective bargaining agreements and other agency agreements with unions “often make it harder for agencies to reward high performers, hold low-performers accountable, or flexibly respond to operational needs. Many agencies and collective bargaining representatives spend years renegotiating CBAs, with taxpayers paying for both sides’ negotiators. Agencies must also engage in prolonged negotiations before making even minor operational changes, like relocating office space,” one of the orders says.
The order sets a series of timetables for agencies to meet for negotiations and tells them to refuse to bargain over topics deemed “permissible” for negotiation under federal labor law; such matters include the numbers and types of employees assigned to an agency function or project and the technology and other means of doing the work. It creates an interagency labor relations working group to set model policies and share information on bargaining topics that impact more than one agency, “particularly those that may infringe on, or otherwise affect, reserved management rights.”
Agencies also are to promptly invoke third-party assistance over impasses; file unfair labor practice complaints against unions under circumstances including what the agency considers to be unnecessary delay by the union; and to impose management’s proposals as policy if the union “does not offer counter-proposals in a timely manner.” Also, all negotiated contracts would have to be submitted to OPM, which would post them publicly.
A separate order specifically addresses official time, telling agencies limit it to no more than a quarter of any employee’s hours and to negotiate with unions for no more than one hour annually per bargaining unit employee. It further would bar use of official time to “prepare or pursue grievances” on behalf of other employees while keeping it available for other purposes such as bargaining. In general, use of the time would be subject to approval in advance by the agency.
OPM recently reported that the government-wide average is just under three hours per unit employee; rates are negotiated and can vary widely. OPM does not specify how many employees use official time or what percentage of their hours they are in that status. A recent House committee report put the figure at 12,500, of whom about 1,000 spent half or more of their duty hours on official time.
The order also would generally bar agencies from providing unions with free office space and use of agency equipment.
