FLRA
Office of the General Counsel
Executive Order 13522
Creating Labor-Management Forums to
Improve Delivery of Government Services
E.O. 13522 Purpose
 To establish a cooperative and productive form
of labor-management relations throughout the
executive branch.
 To improve the delivery of government services
to the American people.
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E.O. 13522 Policy
 Federal Employees and Union representatives are an essential
source of front-line ideas and information about how to deliver
government services.
 A non-adversarial labor-management (LM) forum to discuss
government operations will promote satisfactory labor relations and
improve productivity and efficiency.

LM forums complement the existing collective bargaining process.
 LM forums allow parties to work collaboratively to deliver the highest
quality services to the American public.
 Management should discuss workplace challenges and problems
with labor and jointly devise solutions rather than adhering to the
traditional bargaining procedures.
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E.O. 13522
Implementation of LM Forums
 Agencies directed to work with Unions to establish, or
adapt existing LM forums at the level of recognition and
other appropriate levels as agreed to by the parties, to
help identify problems and propose solutions to better
serve the public and agency missions.
 Established a National Council on Federal LMR (Council)
to oversee implementation of LM forums.
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E.O. 13522
Expectations for LM Forums
 Allow employees and unions to have pre-decisional involvement in
all workplace matters, without regard to whether subjects are
negotiable under the Statute;
 Expeditiously provide union with adequate information on such
matters where not prohibited by law;
 Make good-faith attempt to resolve issues concerning proposed
changes to conditions of employment, including 7106(b)(1) subjects,
in LM forums;
 Evaluate and document in consultation with union changes in
employee satisfaction, manager satisfaction, and organizational
performance.
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E.O. 13522
 The Executive Order does not
 Abrogate any collective bargaining agreement;
 Limit, preclude, or prohibit management from
electing to negotiate over § 7106(b)(1) matters;
 Impair or otherwise affect authority granted by law to
agencies (i.e. it does not expand bargaining rights);
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E.O. 13522
Summary and Focus
 The Executive Order 13522 seeks to improve the
delivery of high quality government services by
establishing:
 A cooperative and productive form of labor-
management relations ;
 Agency LM forums to identify problems and propose
solutions to better serve the public, improve
employee work life and labor-management relations;
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FLRA
Office of the General Counsel
Collective Bargaining Under
5 U.S.C. Chapter 71
DUTY TO BARGAIN:
CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT
 Defined in 5 USC § 7103(a)(14)
 Includes personnel policies, practices and matters
affecting working conditions
 Can be established by rule, regulation or other ways
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CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT
 Authority considers two factors in deciding
whether a matter involves conditions of
employment
 Whether it pertains to bargaining unit employees;
and
 The nature and extent of the effect on working
conditions of the employees
10
See, e.g., Antilles Consol. Education Ass’n., 22 FLRA 235
Scope of Bargaining
Three Categories
 Mandatory
 Those an agency must bargain over
 Permissive
 Those an agency may, but is not required to bargain over
 Other
 Those that an agency cannot bargain over
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Exceptions to Management Rights
5 U.S.C. § 7106(b)(1):
 Numbers, types and grades of employees or
positions assigned to any organizational
subdivision, work project, or tour of duty
 Technology, methods, and means of performing
work
 Permissive - an agency may, but is not required
to bargain over these matters
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Bargaining Permissive Subjects
Under the Statute
 Agencies are not required to bargain over a
permissive subject of bargaining, i.e., those matters
which are either outside the scope of bargaining
required of the parties or are negotiable at the
election of an agency pursuant to § 7106(b)(1). See
FDIC, Headquarters, 18 FLRA 768, 771 (1985).
 This applies to both proposals advanced by management and
union
 If parties reach an agreement to bargain over §
7106(b)(1) matters, then that agreement is
enforceable.
See SSA, Balt., Md., 55 FLRA 1063, 1069 (1999); U.S.
13
Dept. of Commerce, PTO, 54 FLRA 360, 387 n.27 (1998); see also U.S. Dep’t
FLRA
Office of the General Counsel
Pre-Decisional Involvement
Under Executive Order 13522
Pre-Decisional Involvement
Under EO 13522 Agencies must establish labormanagement forums and, through the forums
 Allow employees and union pre-decisional involvement to the fullest
extent practicable on all workplace matters without regard to
negotiability under §7106 of the Statute
 Expeditiously provide information to union representatives, where not
prohibited by law
 Make good-faith attempt to resolve issues concerning proposed
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PRE-DECISIONAL INVOLVEMENT
Executive Order 13522 does not define the term
“pre-decisional involvement”
E.O. leaves PDI for Labor-Management Forums to
define according to the needs of the organization
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PRE-DECISIONAL INVOLVEMENT
PDI does not:
Expand the duty or scope of bargaining
Waive any rights of the parties under the
Statute
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PRE-DECISIONAL INVOLVEMENT
Basic Principles
PDI occurs early when ideas are forming
Participants have common expectations
Information is freely shared
Joint development of solutions
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Negotiation
Mgmt.
Proposal
Management
Deliberations
Agreement
Negotiations
Implementation
Pre-Decisional Involvement
Mgmt. Proposal
Management
Deliberations
Negotiations
Agreement
Implementation
Agreement
Management Deliberations
Implementation
Joint Deliberations
Union Deliberations
Pre-Decisional Involvement
Mgmt. Proposal
Implementation
Agreement
Management
Deliberations
Negotiations
Agreement
Management Deliberations
Implementation
Joint Deliberations
Union Deliberations
Negotiations
Mgmt.
Proposal
Implementation
Agreement
Early Involvement
Management:
 At what point should union be involved?
Union:
 At what point does union want to be involved?
Answer to both questions varies with the issue presented
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Common Expectations
What happens when pre-decisional involvement is concluded?
-- Consensus reached – proceed to implementation without
further bargaining
-- Recommendation accepted by principals
-- Recommendation modified and accepted
-- Execute MOA regarding consensus
-- No Consensus reached – revert to proper place in existing
labor-management relationship
-- Will statutory bargaining be required?
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Fully Sharing Information
Management will disclose all relevant information as part of
PDI problem solving
Information provided as part of process
No need for statutory information requests
No delays in waiting for information
No litigation
Creates issues of trust and confidentiality
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PROBLEM SOLVING APPROACH
Negotiator vs. Problem Solver
Problem-solving processes to create solutions
through consensus decision-making
Collaborative approach, based on parties’ interests
rather than their positions
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Problem Solving Approach
As opposed to being adversaries work together to
find solution
Change from traditional two opposing teams of
negotiators to one group of problem solvers
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Issues Appropriate for Pre-Decisional Involvement
Establish criteria for determining which issues are
appropriate for PDI
Recognize not all issues may be appropriate for PDI
Traditional post decision bargaining is not a failure of PDI, if
parties have common understanding of when it will be used.
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Approaches to Pre-Decisional
Involvement
Has issue been presented as a problem or a solution?

Solution: We need 8 more people on graveyard shift.

Problem: Job not getting done on graveyard shift.
Does issue have one answer that one party or the other
already has taken a position on?


Position: You must upgrade all clerical positions, nothing less than
that is acceptable.
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Problem: Difficulty retaining support staff in critical support
Pre-Decisional Involvement Considerations
 Process can be time-consuming
 Must learn new skills which are not historically used in labor
relations.
 Learning curve for consensus/interest-based approaches
 No winners or losers.
 Unreasonable expectations on either side as to outcomes of
involvement.
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Benefits of Pre-Decisional Involvement
 Employees have meaningful input into decision
 Helps foster change and not force it.
 Avoids adversarial approach to collective bargaining.
 Leads to better quality decision making, more support for
decision and more timely implementation
 May avoid costs associated with lengthy bargaining process30
and resolution of rights-based bargaining disputes
Level of Commitment
Relationship plays larger part in dealings between
parties
Commitment to mission and well being of
employees is as important as compliance with
statutory and contractual rules
Higher level of trust necessary
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