Does this new Executive Order preclude management from initiating a collaborative labor relations strategy with their union?
No, agencies have always had the authority to engage the Union in cooperative arrangements under the Labor Relations Statute. The decision about what form its labor relationship should take is to be decided by the parties in the relationship. The FLRA has previously ruled the establishment of joint labor-management committees is negotiable to the extent that such committees are a forum for the union to express its views rather than interjecting itself into the deliberative process by which management exercises its rights. See 14 FLRA 438 (May 6, 1984) and 30 FLRA 797 (December 31, 1987). It should be noted that 5 U.S.C. section 7101 states that the employees’ right to participate through labor organizations in decisions which affect them “facilitates and encourages the amicable settlement of disputes between employees and their employers involving conditions of employment” and “labor organizations and collective bargaining in the civil service are in the public interest.” Many organiza
