A bipartisan group of legislators is looking to reinstate the National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations in order to ensure that federal employee unions have a better line of communication with agency management.

The National Council and its related agency-level forums were created by an executive order signed by President Barack Obama in 2009 but were revoked by President Donald Trump eight years later for consuming “considerable managerial time and taxpayer resources.”

“President Trump’s order disbanding labor-management panels was short-sighted and ill-advised,” said bill co-sponsor Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., in a news release.

“Our bill ensures that front-line workers and managers engage in constructive dialogue to provide a well-managed federal workplace.”

The Federal Labor-Management Partnership Act, which was reintroduced Feb. 22 after it failed to pass in the previous Congress, would establish a council to advise the president on labor-management relations and would include the director of the Office of Personnel Management and the deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, as well as representatives from federal employee unions and the senior executive service.

“Alaska is home to thousands of hardworking federal employees that I proudly represent,” said bill co-sponsor Rep. Don Young, D-Alaska, in a news release.

“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 Trump administration has had a tumultuous relationship with employee unions and is still engaged in ongoing litigation over three executive orders signed in May 2018 that targeted unions and employee representatives.

The new legislation is 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

“Labor-management councils in the federal sector have a proven track record of making government agencies run more smoothly and efficiently, which is why NTEU strongly objected when the councils were disbanded by the president in 2017,” NTEU National President Tony Reardon said in a news release.

“We commend Reps. Cummings and Young and Sen. Schatz for their leadership in this effort to once again try to reopen the lines of communication between our federal workforce and their managers in order to better serve this country.”

Should the legislation pass, it would supersede the authority of an executive order and become a legal requirement for the executive branch.

About Jessie Bur

Jessie Bur covers federal IT and management.

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