Executive Order 13522 - Labor-Management Partnerships

Union representatives seek more input in workplace issues
GovExec.com: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=46914&oref=todaysnews

By Emily Long elong@govexec.com
January 20, 2011

Federal managers should seek employee input before major decisions are made, not after solutions are developed, according to a memo from Obama administration officials.

In a meeting on Wednesday with federal management and labor representatives, Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry and Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director for Management Jeff Zients reminded agency leaders to improve dialogue with employees by involving them before making final decisions. Managers should engage unions early in decision-making processes, as outlined in President Obama's December 2009 executive order, said the memo.

Executive Order 13522 creates labor-management partnerships governmentwide and on the agency level. The order also requires the National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations to launch pilot programs that will test bargaining over issues not normally negotiable by law in a small group of agencies and directs management to include pre-decisional involvement "in all workplace matters to the fullest extent practicable."

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