Know your Rights: Collective Problem Solving

One of the most fundamental elements of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute is the section on employee rights enumerated at 5 U.S.C. 7102. These rights include, among other things, the right to "form, join, or assist any labor organization, or to refrain from any such activity, freely and without fear of penalty or reprisal..." Assisting a labor organization can take many forms, but the law does not restrict it to negotiations or representation in investigations.

Indeed, the law continues and provides another category of protected activity: "to present the views of the labor organization to heads of agencies and other officials of the executive branch of the Government..."

​This means that all bargaining unit employees, regardless of union membership status, are legally protected in collective problem-solving, and then through the union, taking those solutions to management. This right is not unique to any particular collectively bargained union contract - it's established in law!