A Message from Chairman Carol Waller Pope
Welcome to the new FLRA 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 30th 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.
“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. In FY 2009 for example:
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The Authority issued 32 merits decisions in August alone, breaking the most recent record of 27 decisions issued in March 2005. We have to go back six years to September 2003 to find a month where the Authority issued more merits decisions (36).
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The Office of the General Counsel resolved more than 3,500 unfair labor practice (ULP) charges and approximately 250 representation petitions.
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The Federal Services Impasses Panel resolved close to 100 bargaining impasses.
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The FLRA provided nearly 100 training sessions nation-wide, encompassing more than 2500 participants.
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The FLRA’s Collaboration and Alternative Dispute Resolution Office (CADRO) is back in the business of facilitating the resolution of disputes pending before the Authority, and conducted 15 interventions in FY 2009, reaching a full resolution in 13 of those cases.
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 in 2009 and beyond. 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 want to work 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.
Re-engagement:
This is key! And this is where everyone in the labor-management community plays a critical role. The FLRA wants to “re-engage” 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 now 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 new website is just one example 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 start a new chapter in our 30th year.