FY 2000
Budget Justification/Performance Plan

• In cooperation with the National Partnership Council, continue to champion strong and effective labor-management partnerships that support Federal employees, managers, and their representatives and promote improved performance, results, and service to the public.

• the National Partnership Council’s 1999 research project, which will focus on linkages between partnership and improved organizational performance at selected sites;

In FY 1999, OWR will undertake a broad-based research project designed to provide the NPC and, ultimately, the President, with information about the extent to which effective partnerships produce quantifiable improvements in Federal agency operations. The research will focus on linkages between partnership and improved organizational performance at selected sites, identification of key elements of partnerships that contribute to such improvements, and inferences about how similarly situated partnerships may seek and measure performance.

• consistency in the number of Federal employees covered by partnership councils and agreements. (67% of bargaining unit employees were covered by councils in FY 1998. 68% of bargaining unit employees were covered by agreements in FY 1998.);

• continued positive union and management perceptions regarding the Federal labor-management relations climate.  (Sixty-seven percent of survey respondents believed that the climate was positive in FY 1997);

• a reduction in the number of unfair labor practices (ULPs) received by the Federal Labor Relations Authority. (The number of ULPs received in FY 1998 was 5,702 which is a reduction in the 6,263 total in FY 1996); and

• consistency in the numbers of and an increase in the quality of nominations for the National Partnership Award. (Sixty-eight nominations were received in FY 1998, and 67 were received in FY 1997.)

In FY 1998, OWR supported and promoted effective labor-management partnerships in its ongoing effort to refocus Federal labor relations from its tradition of adversarial litigation to cooperative problem-solving. The most successful of these partnerships were granted the John N. Sturdivant National Partnership Award. A highly successful facilitation project was undertaken by the National Partnership Council (NPC) to focus on challenges at various stages of the partnership relationship. This featured a series of skills-building workshops, held throughout the country, designed to bring significant improvement to partnerships at the working level.

Concerning the perception that employees are treated fairly and equitably, the overall percentage of favorable ratings was 46% in the 1998 survey (reported out in FY 1999). In response to the question of whether the workforce is used efficiently and effectively, the overall percentage of favorable ratings was 56% in the 1998 survey (reported out in FY 1999).