Arbitrator rules for union in dispute with IRS

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0907/092607ar1.htm

By Alyssa Rosenberg [e-mail] September 26, 2007

An independent arbitrator has ruled that Internal Revenue Service officials acted improperly in unilaterally terminating certain provisions of the agency's contract with employees represented by the National Treasury Employees Union.

Managers' prerogative to assign and schedule work did not outweigh the IRS' obligation to bargain in good faith with NTEU, arbitrator Roger Abrams said in a Sept. 21 decision. He ordered the agency to give proper notice if it wishes to bargain over the measures.

"NTEU now has two highly respected and independent arbitrators ruling that the decisions management made in structuring its term bargaining strategy were illegal from beginning to end," said NTEU President Colleen Kelley in a statement.

Robert Marvin, an IRS spokesman, said the agency had no comment on either the decision or any possible follow-up actions.

In June 2006 when the contract expired, IRS officials announced the agency was withdrawing from three "permissive and unenforceable" provisions, even though the old contract remained in effect until new terms were reached. The provisions gave NTEU the right to review training materials and certain performance standards, assign members to work teams in accordance with IRS specifications, and hold 30-minute meetings without supervisors present after formal meetings convened by the IRS and related to conditions of employment.

The IRS argued that the provisions constituted an undue restriction on the rights of management to direct and schedule work assignments. That claim was at the core of Abrams' decision.

FULL story at link.