| The single most important gain that employees make when organizing a union is the right to negotiate a binding contract with their employer covering the terms and conditions of their employment. In 1980, the General Accounting Office Personnel Act of 1980 significantly increased the Comptroller General’s authority, granting the CG to right to appoint, pay, assign and direct employees as the CG deems necessary to carry out the agency’s duties. Because the CG has such considerable authority to set workplace terms and conditions, GAO employees will have more to gain by forming a union because these terms and conditions are all subject to negotiation. The Act also protected the right of GAO employees to unionize, giving employees the ability to ensure checks and balances and provide transparency in light of the CG’s significant, new discretion.
When workplace rules and benefits are incorporated into a binding contract, management can no longer change or abridge the rules and benefits at will, without notice, and often without redress. Under a contract, employees attain an ongoing voice in the development of all future policies and procedures for pay, promotion, health and safety, training, reductions in workforce, and any other applicable terms or conditions. The contract negotiation process empowers employees to play a meaningful role in determining work rules and benefits based upon reliable data. Without the right to bargain a union contract, employees have, at best, an advisory role in the workplace at the discretion of the employer.
Moreover, a contract will give employees a new grievance procedure that provides for independent third party resolution of disputes between the employees and management when disputes cannot be resolved informally. Without a contract, individual employee complaints are relegated to an internal administrative grievance procedure in which the final decision maker is designated by management. Also, because a union allows employees to pool their financial resources, union-represented employees can avail themselves of professional legal representatives to assist in negotiations and individual issue resolution.
Following is a sample outline of issues that could be addressed in the GAO employees' contract. |
| Accountable Performance Management: Performance Appraisal, Pay, Promotion and Career Development |
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Transparent system |
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Management accountable for standard-setting, reviews, notice of deficiencies |
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Up and Down Peer Review |
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Career Counseling |
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Third party review of performance-based decisions |
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| Enhanced Employment Rights |
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Right to Representation |
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Right to Fair and Equitable Treatment |
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Right to Information |
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Due Process Rights |
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Alternative Forum for Individual Employment Claims |
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| Negotiated Grievance/Arbitration Procedure: to enforce contract rights and rights created by law, rule or regulations |
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Negotiated Grievance Procedure |
Administrative Grievance Procedure |
Decided by Independent Party
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Decided by GAO Operative
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Legally Binding
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NOT Legally Binding
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Entitled to Representation
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NOT Entitled to Representation
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Entitled to Discovery
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NOT Entitled to Discovery
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Time on the Job to Prepare
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NO Time on the Job to Prepare
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| Reorganizations, Office Relocation, Office Closings, and Reductions in Force |
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Pre-decisional consultation |
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Bargaining before implementation |
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Due process in making individual RIF decisions |
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Mitigation of adverse effects |
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| Privacy |
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Limit employer access to personal mail, calls, and email |
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| Leave |
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Enhanced leave rights |
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Redress for adverse leave decisions |
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| Health and Safety |
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Ergonomics |
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Health and Safety Committees |
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| Flexible Work Schedules/Workplaces |
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Becomes a contract right |
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Protects against favoritism or unfair application |
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| Union Business: Right to Conduct Union Business on Work Time, Using Work Facilities |
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Labor –Management Committees
Employee representatives are selected by the employees, are accountable ONLY to the employees, and are protected from reprisal for positions taken on the employees’ behalf |
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| * This outline includes the typical matters covered in a Federal Government Union contract, and was derived from the contract between the Congressional Research Employees Association (CREA), IFPTE Local 75 and the Library of Congress. This is not an exhaustive list of topics that could be included in a contract between the Government Accountability Office and the GAO Analysts Organization. |
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