NTEU Urges Federal Appeals Court to Overturn Harmful FLRA Decision

At oral argument last week, NTEU urged a federal appeals court to reject a 2020 decision from the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) that gave agency management an unfair advantage in contract negotiations.

“The new FLRA policy wrongly opens the door for agencies to unilaterally impose workplace rules that conflict with the existing collective bargaining agreement just because the parties are in the middle of negotiating a new contract,” said National President Tony Reardon.

The three-person FLRA, with two members appointed by the previous administration, issued a policy statement on Sept. 30, 2020, in response to a request from the Department of Agriculture. In that 2-1 decision, the FLRA altered the interpretation of “continuance” provisions in federal contracts by allowing agencies to implement new rules for their workforces, even though the union and the agency had already agreed that the existing contract would remain in effect until a new contract was signed. Read more