Book Description

This paper evaluates the hypothesis that exercise of collective bargaining rights by federal employees prevents effective functioning of the federal government and endangers our national security. It argues that federal workers engaging in collective bargaining do not endanger the national security. It discusses the history of federal sector collective bargaining, its successes and shortcomings and demonstrates that the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (FSLMRS), which provides the statutory basis for federal sector collective bargaining, adequately protects the right of agencies to do what is necessary to carry out their missions and does not hamper the effective execution of government business. It begins by examining of the nature of collective bargaining and the appropriateness of providing bargaining rights to federal workers. It next examines the legal history of federal sector bargaining culminating with passage of Title VII of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. It analyzes those sections of Title VII that give federal agencies the requisite flexibility needed to accomplish their missions. It examines the practical, real-world impact of collective bargaining on employee-management relations in the federal sector and shows that the objectives of Title VII have largely not been realized. It focuses on how the limited nature of bargaining in the federal sector has resulted in a system where minor issues become contentious and, with no pressure on either side to settle, drag on for years. It discusses how this problem is the cause of much of the hostility towards federal employee unions and collective bargaining and creates a mindset that sees them as obstructionist organizations that hamper the government's ability to carry out its esential functions and threaten national security.