[W]hen a respondent claims as a defense to an alleged unfair labor practice that a specific provision of the parties collective bargaining agreement permitted its actions alleged to constitute an unfair labor practice, the Authority, including its administrative law judges, will determine the meaning of the parties collective bargaining agreement and will resolve the unfair labor practice complaint accordingly. 318. The obligation to bargain over a relocation arises when a lease is signed (if not earlier) and the union requests to bargain. Nobody disputes that. Tr. GSA approved the increase, and the architects revised their drawings accordingly. . GC Exs. the Agencys counterproposals to find the things that we could agree on. Tr. Thus, when the Union asked to bargain on February 5, the Agency was required to do so. 126-28. Specifically, the Authority has found that office relocations involve changes in conditions of employment, and that agencies must negotiate the impact and implementation of such moves that is, the procedures to be followed in implementing the relocation and appropriate arrangements for employees affected by the move. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent federal agency created by the U.S. Congress in 1935 to enforce the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Tr. at 41. During its negotiations with the Union in April, Agency negotiators told the Union team that all issues relating to the relocation had to be negotiated and finalized before the May 9 deadline given to them by GSA. My reaction to this was that we rejected this because it wasnt a comprehensive proposal. at 30. 3; Tr. 29 at 1. 12 at 1. No. Jt. The FLRA initially decided that disclosure was "prohibited by law" under 7114 (b) (4). By contrast, Jones testified that it was never contemplated that we would do this any other way than face-to-face. Tr. If mediation assistance takes place, but no agreement is reached, either party may thereafter request assistance from the Federal Service Impasses Panel. When the National Labor Relations Board announced that it would be moving its headquarters to a new building in a different part of the District of Columbia, the National Labor Relations Board Union asked to bargain over the relocation, and the parties ultimately signed a ground rules agreement providing for two days of bargaining. The Board has five Members and primarily acts as a quasi-judicial body in deciding cases on the basis of formal records in administrative proceedings. that these are the bargaining sessions and that if we need more, we can agree mutually to have more; but I didnt want anybody to think that we were agreeing to just have two opening sessions . It certainly does not change the fact that the Respondent had already violated its statutory duty to bargain. However, we are willing to tentatively agree to the following parts of the Agencys counterproposal, with the following changes. GC Ex. . Should those rights not be respected and lead to unfair treatment, its the NLRBs job to investigate and, if necessary, take action. 16. Meanwhile, it withheld from the Union the ongoing dialogue between Agency officials and the new buildings architects about the proposed plans for the new headquarters. 182-86; GC Ex. 12; Tr. Protecting rights and facilitating stable relationships among federal agencies, labor organizations, and employees while advancing an effective and efficient government through the administration of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute. What We Do., National Labor Relations Board. . What is the Purpose of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)? And on Dec. 14, 2022, the Los Angeles office of the NLRB agreed to look into a case filed by the National College Players Association (NCPA) alleging unfair labor practices on behalf of University of Southern California football and basketball teams. . Unfortunately, we were not able to reach agreement. GC Ex. (As it turned out, the Agency would end up staying past its lease, becoming a holdover tenant. First, a party who possesses standing can challenge the regulations directly on the ground that the issuing agency acted in excess of its statutory authority in promulgating them. Tr. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The FLRA claimed that judicial review was barred by the sixty day statute of limitations. . Tr. [T]here were some [Union] proposals that were left out of our counter that we werent able to agree to. Tr. marked the opening to broader compromises, but the Agency chose instead to close the book on bargaining. GC Ex. 14 at 3. 106-07. This dispute can be traced back to September 2010, when the Agency started considering what it would do in June 2013, when its lease at Franklin Court was set to expire. Brief Fact Summary. Concepts we will address include: We had stated directly in our proposals for a tentative agreement that we were willing to bargain by any. 106. It makes no sense for the Agency to use the ground rules to declare that bargaining was over, when those very ground rules enabled either party to initiate mediation. Asked to explain why the Union team did not stay, Durkin stated: [W]e couldnt continue that evening. 159, 162. The Union told Jones that there were a number of ways to bargain. (c) In addition to physical posting of paper notices, the Notice shall be distributed electronically, such as by email, posting on an intranet or internet site, or other electronic means, if the Agency customarily communicates with employees by such means. Gwynne A. Wilcox. 25. In other words, the paragraph simply specified the dates on which bargaining would be conducted. 2; Tr. Therefore, the Agency violated its duty to bargain and deprived the Union of a proper opportunity to negotiate the impact and implementation of the move to a new headquarters. . Tr. adopts similar guidelines in concluding that no impasse had been reached: among the factors cited were that neither party had actually declared an impasse; the parties had modified their proposals and demonstrated a responsiveness to the bargaining process; and the parties had not yet had a reasonable opportunity to invoke the processes of FSIP. 42FLRA at 1279-80. Although Jones insisted in March and April that the Agency had not received preliminary drawings or floor plans for the new offices until April 14, the record demonstrates that the architects had submitted a series of proposed floor plans to the Agency prior to April 14, and that Agency officials had been engaged in detailed discussions with the architect and with GSA about the adequacy (or inadequacy) of the space being allocated to the NLRB. Tr. 367; On May 13, FMCS Mediator Saunders emailed the Union, saying that he had discussed the Unions mediation request with the Agency, but that there was no mutual agreement to mediate. GC Ex. Most of those employees work for the Agencys General Counsel (including about eight or nine who work for the Washington Resident Office, also referred to as the WRO, which is a division of the Baltimore Regional Office); about fifteen work for the Board. The reason that knowing the distinction between employment laws and labor laws is important, especially when hiring an attorney, is because lawyers who claim to be both labor and employment lawyers have a tendency to specialize in one and dabble in the other. In the practice of law, however, there is a distinction between the two, and it is important that anyone seeking the assistance of a lawyer know what that distinction is. Based on the foregoing, I conclude that the ground rules agreement did not justify the Respondents decision to end bargaining prior to reaching agreement or impasse. Tr. Tr. In November 2021, the agency gave workers at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama a second shot at unionizing after concluding that the ecommerce giant interfered in the first election. The Understanding Law Video Lecture Series: Monthly Subscription ($19 / Month) While private-sector employees are entitled to collectively bargain . Despite significant differences between the parties' proposed telework arrangements, both parties identified maximizing telework opportunities for bargaining unit employees as a primary interest. . 33, 42-43, 403; GC Ex. Later that morning, Jones and Graham escorted the Union team through Franklin Court. On April 17, the Union and the Agency exchanged communications (both verbally and in writing) that ultimately resulted in their reaching a ground rules agreement. 45. But the Agency would not defer bargaining about furniture to a later time, as that would be like buying a pig in a poke. Tr. It did so by negotiating ground rules for bargaining over the relocation, and then by negotiating with the Union for the time allotted to negotiations in those ground rules. Accordingly, the parties should negotiate fully and in good faith on all issues relating to the impact and implementation of the move to Half Street. Br. Jones added that bargaining other than face-to-face bargaining would present a number of practical difficulties, saying, We couldnt possibly try to negotiate a subject as complicated as the complete relocation of the Agencys headquarters by email or telephone. The ground rules agreement states, The parties will conduct two bargaining sessions on April 23-24, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. GC Ex. Was NLRB barred by the statute of limitations? . In, Once the Agency stopped bargaining on April 25, it began to unilaterally implement all manner of decisions related to the relocation. informed the Union that the Respondent had fulfilled its obligation to bargain over the effects of the Headquarters Office Move, and that [s]ince on or about May15, 2014, the Respondent has failed and refused to negotiate with the Union over the Headquarters Office Move to the extent required by the Statute, in violation of 7116(a)(1) and (5) of the Statute. The NLRB continues to be in the news. 274. Later in the conversation, Luther testified, Jones said the Agency wanted to share the drawings with all of the parties at the same time, but they didnt have a sufficient number of the drawings at that point. It just wouldnt work. Tr. 113. The Board. 1935 Passage of the Wagner Act., National Labor Relations Board. This individual is appointed by the president for a four-year term and functions independently from the board. On May 16, Jones provided an additional response to the May 6 information request, forwarding to the Union a variety of drawings for Half Street, including some dated March 26 (GC Ex. "University of Southern California. On the first day of the hearing, the GC moved to amend the complaint to allege, On April 25, 2014, and on May 15, 2014, the Respondent . Durkin also asked if the Agency could put offices or workstations in space slated for socializing; the Agency did not have a response to that request. . at 12, 14. . In a similar context, the judge in, The Respondent argues that negotiations were deadlocked because the Unions proposals focused almost entirely on the maintenance of the size of current office space and configuration[,] the Agency rejected the Unions proposals on these issues, and neither side altered its position. Tr. Since seven months went by after that declaration, with no negotiations, the Agencys limited offer to bargain in November was far too little, and extremely late. The NLRB administers and enforces the National Labor Relations Act, conducting secret ballot elections to determine whether employees wish to be represented by a union, and resolving alleged ULPs committed by employers and unions in the private sector. The next day, May 7, most of the Union team participated in a videoconference with NLRB General Counsel Griffin and Rachel Lennie, which focused primarily on the Unions pending information requests and its need to have this information in order to bargain properly. Because the ground rules agreement cannot reasonably be interpreted as limiting the parties bargaining period to two days, I conclude that the Union did not waive its right to bargain until either an agreement was reached or the parties had come to an impasse. The Railway Labor Act (RLA) is a federal law that was passed in 1926 to govern labor relations in the railroad industry, and amended in 1936 to include the airline industry. Tr. At the hearing, Durkin recalled: [W]e were incensed. . So what we decided to do . They were joined by Lennie, Abruzzo, and Robert Schiff, the Chairmans Chief of Staff. Find historical decisions ofthe Assistant Secretary of Labor for Labor-Management Relations and the Federal Labor Relations Council, as well as Foreign Service Labor Relations Board decisions. Vikki Velasquez is a researcher and writer who has managed, coordinated, and directed various community and nonprofit organizations. Issue. . The FLRAis the federal public sector counterpart to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which governs labor relations between private sector employees and employers. NLRB, the National Labor Relations Board, is an independent federal agency vested with the ability to safeguard employees' rights to organize and to determine whether to have unions as their bargaining representative. 237. Tr. Durkin reiterated that the Union disagreed with that position. 39. 322.) What is the difference between NLRB and FLRA? A petitioners claim that a regulation suffers a substantive deficiency other than lack of statutory authority can be heard on appeal after an agency denies the petition, but the review is limited to the narrow issues defined by the denial of the petition. 2423.32. Jones suggested meeting April 15-17, with the first day spent touring Half Street and hearing from officials involved in the move, and Durkin agreed. The NLRB administers and enforces the National Labor Relations Act, conducting secret ballot elections to determine whether employees wish to be represented by a union, and resolving alleged ULPs committed by employers and unions in the private sector. Later that day, Sloper reminded Jones of the provision in the ground rules agreement for mediation and asked whether the Agency believed that mediation has been completed according to the terms of the ground rules agreement., morning: Bargaining has concluded, and there has been no mediation. 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