bargaining over wages and benefits, or are there some

exclusions or limitations on coverage?

would

Three of the bills S. 29, S. 103 and S.579 apply all or portions of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to Congressional employees. The bills differ in their approach for achieving this objective. S.2071 does

not apply the NLRA to Congressional employees.

it makes the FSLMRA applicable to Congressional employees.

Instead

Under S. 29, all the provisions of the NLRA would apply to Congressional employees. The bill, however, leaves it to each house of Congress (the Committee on Rules and Administration of the Senate and the Committee on House Administration) to issue such requirements as it deems appropriate to effectuate the application of the NLRA.

S.103 applies the NLRA to Senate and House employees. The bill amends the Civil Rights Act of 1991 to provide that employment of Senate employees shall be made free from acts that "constitute unfair labor practices under section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act." The Director of the Office of Senate Fair Employment Practices is required to initially adopt rules that, as nearly as possible, are identical to the regulations

promulgated under section 8 of the NLRA. For employees
of the House, the Civil Rights Act of 1991 is amended to
provide that the head of the House Office of Fair
Employment Practices shall adopt rules applying the NLRA
to the House of Representatives. As with the Senate, the
initial rules are to be, as nearly as possible, identical
to the regulations promulgated under section 8 of the

NLRA.

The language of S.579 makes all the provisions of the NLRA applicable to Congressional employees; however, there is no mechanism or procedure for implementing this requirement.

11. Once legislative branch employees are organized into

unions and bargaining units under protection of the NLRA, would their unions or bargaining units be allowed to affiliate with existing private sector labor

organizations?

There are no non-affiliation rules in the NLRA.

12. Do you see any potential for legislative decisions on

issues important to private sector unions to be in any way unfairly influenced by the presence of unionized

13.

legislative branch employees inside the legislative

process?

Please refer to our answer to question 3.

Why shouldn't the right to strike be extended to employees in the legislative branch? And if the NLRA is applied, will it include the right for covered employees

to strike?

As a general rule, public employees are vested with the public trust and generally the right to strike is considered to be incompatible with this trust. For this reason, under FSLMRA, 5 U.S.C. § 7116 (b) (7) (A), it is an unfair labor practice for a labor organization to call or participate in a strike. There is no such analogous

provision in the NLRA.

Therefore, if the NLRA were to

apply to the legislative branch, it would include the
right to strike.

14. Should there be any differences in the application of

"labor law" between the legislative branch, the executive branch and the private sector? What are those differences that should be taken into account?

From the view-point of GAO's labor-management relations program, we support the distinction between application of the labor law to the federal sector versus its application to the private sector: (1) federal unions can bargain on only a limited number of issues bargaining on pay and other economic benefits is generally prohibited, (2) strikes and lockouts are prohibited in the federal sector and (3)

-

federal

employees cannot be compelled to join or pay dues to the unions that represent them.

As required by 31 U.S.C. § 732 (e) (2), GAO has established

a labor-management relations program consistent with the executive branch. However, our employees are not

unionized and, therefore, we have no experience with

which to address the application of this program in the legislative branch.

ANSWERS OF THE SENATE LEGAL COUNSEL TO QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY SENATOR THAD COCHRAN TO BE ANSWERED BY ALL WITNESSES APPEARING AT THE HEARING ON CONGRESSIONAL COVERAGE LEGISLATION, SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 1994 I. Would all legislative branch employees be covered under the [Federal Service Labor-Management Relations statute] or would certain types of jobs be classified as exempt from the labor-management regulatory scheme? How would the lines be drawn between covered and non-covered employees?

Title VII of the Civil Reform Act of 1978, also known as the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations statute, which governs collective bargaining in the executive branch, does not apply to certain individuals who work in the executive branch. There are three ways in which an individual might be excluded from coverage under the Act. First, some individuals who work in the executive branch are excluded from the statute's definition of employee. See 5 U.S.C. S 7103(a)(2). The excluded employees are members of the uniformed services, a supervisor or management official,' and an officer or employee in the Foreign Service employed in the Department of State, the International Communication Agency, the United States International Development Corporation Agency, the Department of Agriculture, or the Department of Commerce. Id. S 7103(a)(2).

The second way in which some executive branch personnel are excluded from coverage is by the exemption of certain agencies from the statute's definition of a covered agency. See id. S 7103(a)(3). These exempted agencies are the General Accounting Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Federal Labor Relations Authority, and the Federal Service Impasses Panel.

The third way in which executive branch personnel may be excluded from coverage under the statute is that the President

1

For purposes of this exemption, a supervisor is defined as "an individual employed by an agency having authority in the interest of the agency to hire, direct, assign, promote, reward, transfer, furlough, layoff, recall, suspend, discipline, or remove employees, to adjust their grievances, or to effectively recommend such action, if the exercise of the authority is not merely routine or clerical in nature but requires the consistent exercise of independent judgment." Id. S 7103(a)(10). A "management official" is defined as "an individual employed by an agency in a position the duties and responsibilities of which require or authorize the individual to formulate, determine, or influence the policies of the agency." Id. § 7103(a)(11).