RSS FeedsA Message from Chairman Carol Waller Pope
Welcome to the FLRA’s website! I am honored to be the Chairman of the FLRA and to have the privilege of leading the FLRA during the Administration of President Barack Obama. Our government is facing unprecedented challenges and stable labor-management relations are needed more than ever. I know the road ahead is challenging, and that we at the FLRA will need the cooperation and commitment of others in fulfilling our mission to provide leadership in Federal sector labor-management relations.
Although we are in the FLRA’s 33rd year, we are opening a new chapter in the book of Federal sector labor-management relations and the FLRA. This is what I call a “new season” at the FLRA and the theme for the FLRA’s future is:
Revitalization, Reinvention, and Re-engagement.
Revitalization:
“Revitalize” means “to give new life or vigor.” In the recent past, the FLRA’s performance, along with employee morale, had suffered. This, in turn, has affected our customers, in terms of both timely case processing and training efforts, outreach and offers of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services to assist parties in their labor-management relationships. Today, we are “breathing new life” into these efforts:
With respect to its mission accomplishments, the FLRA has made vast improvements in providing customers with the timely, quality dispute resolution services that they deserve. In this respect, the Authority issued 232 merits decisions in FY 2011, beating FY 2009 and FY 2010 by 20 decisions and ten decisions, respectively – more decisions than in any year since FY 2003. Since February of FY 2009, the Authority has reduced its pending case inventory by 77 percent – from 394 to 93, its overage case inventory by 87 percent – from 269 to 34, and the average age of pending cases by 116 days or 43 percent – from 270 to 154 days.
Furthermore, the OGC increased its productivity in FY 2011 by 21 percent over FY 2009. Beginning in FY 2010, the OGC eliminated a backlog of more than 340 complaint cases and more than 800 appeals, and in FY 2011, the OGC closed more than 4,400 ULP cases and held 20 trials; the OGC also closed close to 300 representation cases and conducted 35 elections. The OALJ also resolved cases at an expeditious pace with more than 500 cases on their docket in the last two years. Of significant import is that the ALJs had to hold fewer than 50 trials over the last two years, due to their considerable settlement efforts that resulted in cases being resolved without a trial.
In addition, the FSIP – which continues to experience increased case filings – has also showed improved performance outcomes. In particular, over the last two years, the FSIP closed more cases each year than it had in FY 2007, FY 2008, and FY 2009, and with its commitment to obtaining settlements rather than issuing decisions, returned the FSIP to its original guiding philosophy that the voluntary settlement of bargaining impasses is the most effective and efficient form of dispute resolution.
In FY 2011, the FLRA’s Collaboration and Alternative Dispute Resolution Office (CADRO) worked with parties to resolve or narrow their disputes in pending cases. As a result, close to 20 pending cases were expeditiously resolved with no further need for litigation, getting the parties back to conducting the business of government. Most noteworthy are a number of cases that involved complex, long-standing disputes that the parties had expended resources over for many years, and were able to resolve with the assistance of the CADRO.
Reinvention:
I use the word “reinvent;” not “restore”-- and that is purposeful -- because we are not talking about simply bringing the FLRA back to what it used to be. Restoring some old processes in many respects are the easy things to do. The hard part is to look forward and determine how the needs of the labor-management community have changed and what the FLRA needs to do differently to enable us to work smarter and be more effective today and in the future. A lot has changed: some of the experienced practitioners have retired; some relationships have soured; and technology innovations have changed the landscape in the workplace I am working together with others in the labor-management community to reinvent a FLRA that is flexible and strategically poised to address the needs of this changing environment. When I speak to practitioners, I am asking them to examine their own labor-management relationships. Consistent with President Obama’s Executive Order on “Creating Labor-Management Forums to Improve Delivery of Government Services,” the FLRA is also committed to providing training and services to assist parties in developing effective labor-management forums.
Re-engagement:
This is key! And this is where everyone in the labor-management community plays a critical role. The FLRA is “re-engaging” with the members of this community, and we want members of the community to re-engage each other -- at the bargaining table, at the committee level, and on the shop floor. We know that the FLRA has historically played a vital role in helping you manage your relationships and we are back in business! We can train you, help facilitate your disputes and offer you alternative means to litigation to work out your problems. And in those cases where you are unable to resolve your dispute, we are prepared to provide you a timely, quality decision.
It is a new day at the FLRA and we are committed to a new season of Revitalization, Reinvention and Re-engagement. This website and the materials that are now making available to the public on this site are just a few examples of our progress and commitment. I pledge to work hard in leading these efforts to not only restore your confidence in the FLRA, but to make it more effective than ever as we write this new chapter for the FLRA and labor-management relations in the Federal Government.