President Holway Meets with Department of Defense on Labor-Relations
December 15, 2009
Last Friday, NAGE National President David J. Holway and Deputy General Counsel Gina Lightfoot Walker, met with Marilee Fitzgerald, the Acting Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Civilian Personnel Policy.
Ms. Fitzgerald had requested a meeting with NAGE and other unions holding DoD national consultation rights. The goal was to get acquainted and re-acquainted after 8 years marked by a tense relationship between the Department and unions under the Bush administration. Management viewed the meeting as "an important first step towards building a collaborative relationship between the Department and labor." The Department and labor enjoyed a respectable relationship during the Clinton years under the Clinton Executive Order which established partnership. However, the relationship quickly soured after the Executive Order was rescinded during the Bush administration. The relationship further soured after the Department sought to implement the National Security Personnel System which would have eliminated collective bargaining rights for DoD employees.
The meeting's main focus was on how the Department of Defense will implement and work under the recent Executive Order that created labor-management forums and a National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations. The Department of Defense is under a short timeframe for implementing the order and is seeking labor's help. The Department appears eager to restore the relationship and understands it is necessary and required to work in a collaborative manner with labor. Naturally, the unions expressed a healthy lack of trust and goodwill as a result of the last 8 years. "In order to restore good relations, there must be serious accountability on the part of management," said National President David J. Holway.
Topics addressed at last week's meeting included launching the partnership (how will it be structured, what will it be called), and formalizing the councils. The group also discussed working together on issues that would be of interest to and positive for employees (e.g. telework), providing joint training to educate both management and labor on the true meaning of partnership, and assessing the state of relations - good and bad - to help determine what works and what doesn't.
The next meeting is scheduled for early January.