Washington, D.C. -Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Rep. Don Young (R-AK) introduced the Federal Labor-Management Partnerships Act, a bill to reinstate advisory panels that promote dialogue and foster partnerships between labor and federal agency management. First established nearly 25 years ago, the panels were disbanded by President Donald Trump in September 2017.
“President Trump’s order disbanding labor-management panels was short-sighted and ill-advised," said Chairman Cummings. “Our bill ensures that front-line workers and managers engage in constructive dialogue to provide a well-managed federal workplace."
“Alaska is home to thousands of hardworking federal employees that I proudly represent," said Congressman Don Young. “These dedicated public servants deserve a seat at the table as workplace rules and policy changes are discussed and implemented. This legislation helps create open dialogue with the men and women in our federal workforce, and I am proud to support it."
The Federal Labor-Management Partnership Act would reinstitute advisory panels to allow employees and managers to discuss challenges, review organizational initiatives, and solve workplace issues.
In the past, these advisory panels helped the Department of Commerce institute and optimize telework policies; the Treasury Department retrain employees and improve performance in the Financial Management Service; and the Patent and Trademark Office reduce patent-application backlogs and processing time with greater worker satisfaction.
The Act would establish a National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations that would:
* advise the President on labor-management relations in the Executive Branch;
* be co-chaired by the Director of the Office of Personnel Management and the Deputy Director for Management at the Office of Management and Budget;
* have two members from the largest federal-employee unions, four members from other major unions, one member from the Senior Executive Service, and one member representing management officials; and
* require each agency head to create labor-management partnerships to allow employees and their representatives to have pre-decisional input in workplace matters.
The bill has been endorsed by the American Federation of Government Employees, National Treasury Employees Union, National Active and Retired Federal Employees, National Federation of Federal Employees, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, and the Federal Managers Association.
