Arbitrator affirms the union's representational rights

An arbitrator has ruled that the Department of Housing and Urban Development violated its contract with AFGE when it refused to give AFGE Local 476 documentation tied to the proposed removal of an employee the union represents. The May 12 decision reinforces the union's right to the information it needs to do its job.

Arbitrator John Markuns found that the contract language in AFGE Council 222's agreement requiring HUD to provide the documentation was "plain and unambiguous." He rejected the agency's claim that the union first had to obtain a signed designation of representation from the employee before any records would be released. The word "shall" in the contract, he noted, made the requirement mandatory and unconditional.

HUD's own witness, an employee relations director, admitted under testimony that the designation requirement the agency relied on does not appear anywhere in the contract. HUD was ordered to stop withholding documentation without first conducting the legally required Privacy Act balancing test, and as the losing party, to pay the full $7,000 in arbitrator fees and expenses.

The ruling reaches well beyond a single case. The arbitrator recognized that access to disciplinary documentation lets the union evaluate how a proposed action could affect not just the employee involved but the whole bargaining unit, including whether management is quietly putting new disciplinary policies in place.

"This ruling sends a strong message: management does not get to rewrite the collective bargaining agreement when it becomes inconvenient," AFGE Local 476 President Ashaki Robinson said. The decision affirms that the contract means what it says, and that the union will defend the rights of every member it represents.

This summary is adapted from a report by the American Federation of Government Employees. Read the full article at AFGE.org. Image courtesy of AFGE.