Union Corner: FDA, Union Negotiators Agree on Contract

After a one-year gestation, the contract has been delivered-almost. The first two Union Corner articles last year (August and September Pikes) discussed the importance of collective bargaining agreements as principal, practical, everyday embodiments of employees’ rights in the workplace. The February Union Corner described the actual negotiation process, which ended under the watchful eye of the arbitrator at 4 a.m. on Saturday May 22. No issues were submitted to arbitration. All terms were worked out between and agreed to by the union and the Agency.

Neither party got everything it wanted, nor will every term in the contract please everyone. We hope the contract creates an employee friendly environment and makes FDA the best place in the world to work.

There are three kinds of articles in the contract: those that go to the administration of the contract, those that relate to the union and those that pertain to the employee work environment. The better each employee understands the plan, the more likely we will realize the goal of the better FDA workplace.

The contract, however, is not self-executing. The most important things to be aware of are employee rights; procedures to be followed, including deadlines; duties and responsibilities; and standards for making decisions. When an employee lapses, he or she must take corrective action. When the employer lapses, it should be called to account. The ordinary ways to point out lapses are informal discussions and, when those fail, grievances.

Grievances flag lapses and get things on track. They are the union’s preferred approach to lapses because they are cheap and fast. The union, however, is not going to be poking into everyone’s affairs to see that things are done according to the book.

Administrative. The contract’s term is five years. At 30 months, the union may, at its option, reopen for negotiations and bargaining three of the 60 contract articles. Employees who work under the contract must identify what doesn’t work or needs to be fixed or could be improved. If no one speaks up, any shortcomings and defects in the contract will not be addressed.

Union. For representational activities, official time (time on the clock) will be available on a reasonable-time basis (December Pike). FDA has promised not to penalize any employee for his or her use of official time. Union representatives may elect to have a collateral duty statement added to their position descriptions. The statement will describe the kinds of representational activities that an employee representative will engage in, such as processing of grievances, participation in negotiations and attendance at examinations of other employees. Representatives are responsible for keeping track of and reporting all official time they use. When performance appraisals are made, the total amount of official time used will be divided by the usual number of hours for a full-time employee (2,080 hours a year) to determine the proportion to be appraised in accord with the employee’s assigned duties. In other words the representative will be appraised as a part-time employee. FDA managers will make no appraisal of an employee’s representational activities.

Employee work environment. This constitutes the bulk of the contract. One example-alternative work schedules-illustrates the three keys to making the contract work for you: procedures, duties and responsibilities, and standards. Standard FDA business hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Any other tour of duty is an alternative work schedule. A joint labor-management committee will be created to handle alternative work schedule questions and controversies. This committee has the authority to make such rules as it believes will make the approval of alternative work schedules more efficient and less troublesome.

It is each employee’s duty and responsibility to determine whether he or she would like to have an alternative work schedule and what that schedule will be. An employee who would like to have an alternative work schedule must follow the procedure of informing his or her supervisor of the proposed schedule and obtaining approval. After receiving the proposed schedule, the supervisor’s duty and responsibility are to review the proposed schedule in light of the business needs of the office and determine if approving the proposed schedule would result in an adverse Agency impact (standard for denial). An adverse impact is defined in the contract as a reduction in productivity, diminished level of service to the public or an increase in operating cost.

If the supervisor finds an adverse Agency impact and denies the request, he or she must then inform the employee by memorandum within 30 days of the reasons, supported by evidence as appropriate, why there will be an adverse impact. The employee may then adjust the proposed alternative work schedule to negate the identified adverse impact. This can be done in conjunction with other employees, if appropriate. Procedures then require the employee to resubmit the proposed alternative work schedule for supervisory approval.

An employee who has failed to obtain approval of a proposed alternative work schedule may take the proposal to the Joint Labor-Management Committee. The employee explains his or her position to the committee and provides all relevant documents. The committee works to resolve disputes. Those disputes not resolved after 180 days will be referred to a neutral third party for assistance and resolution, which will be binding.

Robert Young, M.D., Ph.D., is president of the local NTEU chapter.