Bonneville Power Administration

Administrative Efficiencies Project

Presently, federal government employees are subject to and protected by many statutory controls. Management cannot take away or change these protections; government employee unions cannot negotiate on the subjects.

BPA management’s project is to remove some of the controls and protections but to retain restrictions against union attempts to bargain on the subjects. Thus management would have unrestrained freedom in dealing with employees as they alone see fit.

Management’s alleged justification is cost-saving efficiency in a business-like manner. Of course, management could save money if it could hire, fire, re-assign, downgrade, and move employees without restraint. However, this would not be fair to employees and is not business-like. In a business context, the unions may bargain on any topic, without the no-negotiation prohibitions presently imposed on unions of government employees in several important areas. Also, businesses are subject to strikes and other forceful activities; government employee unions cannot (and should not) strike and can rely, in cases of impasse, only on advisory determinations by another over-worked federal agency.

To the extent that BPA management frees itself from existing statutory and regulatory controls, to that same extent BPA management should be mandated to effectuate its new powers by collective bargaining with certified unions, with neutral binding arbitration at government expense on items at impasse.

12/15/98

Local 335,

Laborers’ International Union of North America

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