Keith’s note: Civil servants working at Wallops have been seeking to decertify their existing union since June 2013 claiming that union representation is no longer necessary at that location. The Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) has not yet decided if they will conduct a special secret ballot election among those civil servants to decertify the current union, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE).
The FLRA took the unusual step this week by inviting interested persons to submit Amici Curiae Briefs to them on the legal question of whether the current Federal law under a specific section of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 and the FLRA’s regulations apply to decertification petitions filed by individuals. Details of the case before the FLRA are here. A FLRA press release on this topic is here. Federal Register notice is here.
– Brief of the American Federtion of Government Employees AFL-CIO in Response to the Federal Labor Relations Authority Order IN 67 FLRA No. 65
– Brief of Petitioner Ronald H. Walsh
It appears to me the employees have a good case. Nevertheless i would suggest they continue to have a union of some sort. I friend who is a highly experienced civil servant would have suffered severely do to one of the usual political games have he not been able to file a grievance with the union.
And the march to vote against self-interest in America continues. It is bewildering to be sure.
If you’re under the impression that union membership is canonically equivalent to self-interest on the part of employees as a general thing, you understand neither unions nor self-interest very well.
I would expect the FLRA to drag this out as long as they can.