-
Appropriate Unit
-
A grouping of employees that a union represents or seeks to represent and that the FLRA finds appropriate under the criteria of § 7112 (community of interest, effective dealings, efficiency of operations) for collective bargaining purposes. Certain types of employees cannot be included in units--e.g., management officials and supervisors. See § 7112(b). Distinguish between unit member and unionmember. The latter is a matter of individual choice; the former is not.
-
Bargaining Unit
-
See Appropriate Unit (external link).
-
Bargaining Unit Structure
-
The distribution of bargaining units by, e.g., size and location. It is often said that the bargaining unit structure in the Federal sector is "fragmented." Two additional appropriate unit criteria--effective dealings and efficiency of government operations--were among the changes Executive Order (EO) 11491 made over EO 10988 in order to combat the problem of fragmentation. EO 11491 was later amended to provide for unit consolidation procedures as another means of coping with unit fragmentation. See unit consolidation (external link).
-
Clarification of Unit Petition
-
That portion of FLRA's multipurpose petition not involving a question concerning representationthat may be filed at any time in which the petitioner (union or management) asks FLRA to determine the bargaining unit status of various employees--i.e., to determine whether they are management officials, supervisors, employees engaged in nonclerical personnel work, or confidential employees, and therefore excluded from the unit (and from the coverage of the collective bargaining agreement applicable to the unit, including access to the agreement's negotiated grievance procedure). 5 CFR 2422.1(b).; Arbitrators may not determine the bargaining unit status of an employee in order, e.g., to determine whether a grievance by a particular employee is arbitrable under the negotiated grievance procedure. See, e.g., 32 FLRA No. 125. In 56 FLRA No. 153, as the result of the 9th Circuit's decision in Eisinger v. FLRA, 218 F.3rd 1097 (9th Cir. 2000), FLRA vacated its decision in 54 FLRA No. 58 (where it held that individuals did not have standing to file CU or AC petitions).
-
Unit
-
See APPROPRIATE UNIT.
Distinguish between "union" and "unit" (or "bargaining unit"). A "unit" is a grouping of employees (occupying certain types of positions) for collective bargaining purposes. A "union" is an organization that either is, or seeks to be, the exclusive representative (for collective bargaining purposes) of all the employees in a bargaining unit.
Do not confuse "unit" member and "union" member. Whether one is in, or not included in, a unit depends on the unit description (in terms of types of positions) and whether the position one occupies is encompassed by the unit description. An employee cannot elect to be in or out of an existing unit: inclusion or exclusion depends on the position the employee occupies. Being a union member, on the other hand, is a matter of choice. Although, e.g., management officials and supervisors cannot be included in units (see 5 USC § 7112(b)(1)), nothing prevents them from becoming members of unions. Similarly, there is no obligation--at least in the Federal sector's labor-management relations program--for employees in a unit to join a union. See 5 USC § 7102.
-
Unit Consolidation
-
A no-risk procedure for combining existing units into one or more larger appropriate units. § 7112(d).
-
Unit Determination Election
-
When several petitioners seek to represent different parts of an employer and the proposed units overlap, and when FLRA finds that more than one of the proposed units are appropriate, it lets the employees vote for units as well as unions. See, e.g., 5 FLRA No. 20. (Keep in mind that the statute does not require that the proposed unit be the "most" appropriate unit, but only that the unit be "an" appropriate unit.)