Bill Summary
This bill, known as the "Protecting Collective Bargaining and Official Time for Federal Workers Act," aims to nullify certain executive orders and presidential memorandums that have been detrimental to federal employee collective bargaining rights. It recognizes the importance of unions in protecting the rights of workers and ensuring fair working conditions, and states that the current administration's actions have violated congressional intent and threatened the rights of millions of federal workers. The bill would rescind specific executive orders and the presidential memorandum that have limited unions' ability to engage in collective bargaining and perform their legally required duties. If passed, this legislation would restore the balance of power between the federal government and its employees and protect the rights of workers to collectively bargain.
Possible Impacts
1. The legislation could greatly limit the ability of federal employees to negotiate their working conditions and benefits through their unions, which could lead to decreased job satisfaction and potentially lower wages and benefits for these workers.
2. The legislation could also restrict the amount of time and resources that unions have to represent and advocate for their members, potentially making it more difficult for federal workers to address workplace issues and grievances.
3. The legislation could also impact the working relationship between federal employees and the government, as it removes the requirement for agencies to negotiate in good faith and may lead to greater tensions and disputes between the two parties.
[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3583 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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116th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3583
To provide that certain Executive orders and Presidential memorandum
with respect to Federal employee collective bargaining shall have no
force or effect, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 25, 2020
Mr. Cardin (for himself, Mr. Brown, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Sanders, Mr.
Durbin, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Casey, Mr. Warner, Mrs. Gillibrand, Ms. Hirono,
Mr. Schatz, Mr. Booker, Ms. Klobuchar, and Mr. Peters) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide that certain Executive orders and Presidential memorandum
with respect to Federal employee collective bargaining shall have no
force or effect, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Protecting Collective Bargaining and
Official Time for Federal Workers Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Federal unions play a critical role in protecting the
rights of Federal workers by allowing members to have a
collective voice on the job and in the legislative process,
advance issues for working families, ensure equal opportunities
for all workers, and raise the standards by which all
professional and technical workers are employed.
(2) Collective bargaining is essential to the union
process, because it provides mutual agreement between all
parties that fosters harmonious relationships between the
Federal Government and its employees and protects the interest
of both parties.
(3) The current administration has acted through Executive
orders and official memorandums to dismantle Federal unions and
undermine their collective bargaining rights across the Federal
workforce and these directives have already negatively impacted
labor contracts, both signed and under active negotiation.
(4) These orders set an aggressive schedule for unions to
engage in collective bargaining, while also slashing the unions
official time for performing union duties by over 91 percent in
some cases. These actions are limiting the ability for unions
to prepare for negotiations and perform their legally required
employee representational duties.
(5) Section 7101(a) of title 5, United States Code, states
that Congress finds that ``labor organizations and collective
bargaining in the civil service are in the public interest.''.
Attempting to eliminate the union by eliminating almost all its
official time repudiates the statutory position that unions are
in the public interest.
(6) Through these orders, agencies are required to comply
with artificial bargaining schedules, which undermine good
faith negotiations and divert the decision making to an impasse
panel, which has no union representation on it and does not
represent both parties.
(7) Collectively, the administration's actions have
violated congressional intent, undermined the ability of unions
to engage in collective bargaining, and threatened the rights
and benefits of millions of Federal workers.
SEC. 3. NULLIFICATION OF EXECUTIVE ORDERS AND PRESIDENTIAL MEMORANDUM
RELATING TO FEDERAL EMPLOYEE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING.
Each of the following Executive orders and Presidential memorandum
are rescinded and shall have no force or effect:
(1) Executive Order 13837 (83 Fed. Reg. 25335; relating to
the use of official time).
(2) Executive Order 13836 (83 Fed. Reg. 25329; relating to
Federal collective bargaining).
(3) Executive Order 13839 (83 Fed. Reg. 25343; relating to
the Merit Systems Protection Board).
(4) The Presidential Memorandum on the Delegation of
Certain Authority under the Federal Service Labor-Management
Relations Statute, issued to the Secretary of Defense on
January 29, 2020.
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