The Federal Service Labor- Management and Employee Relations Act--Its meaning and its impact

Abstract

This article describes labor initiatives with regard to federal government employees, noting that organizing in this sector has been considerably slower than in the private sector. The author describes the historic hostility to unionizing federal government employees, culminating in acceptance of labor activities by federal employees beginning in the 1960s. Bargaining issues differ as the author points out, since wages, which normally consume a large part of negotiations, are set, and so bargaining is limited to more confined parameters.