IFPTE Local 777

Today, IFPTE Local 777 – together with other federal-sector unions, and union members nationwide, filed a “Petition for Rulemaking” with the Federal Labor Relations Authority. This tool is one from our toolbox of how we can use our rights as citizens to petition the government for changes we wish to see.

To read our petition, click here.

Background

The Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) is the labor board that oversees the interactions between organized labor unions and most of the agencies in the U.S. Federal Government. Currently, the FLRA is taking several actions that result in large-scale abandonment of federal workers that deprive these workers of the ability to remedy problems when they arise in the workplace – and critically, the FLRA stands between federal workers and their ability to seek redress in the federal courts.

We started a petition, using an underutilized provision of law tied to the Constitutional right to petition the government, to ask the FLRA to publish rules that would bring accountability and transparency to how the agency is using “lawfare” in carrying out the Trump Administration’s anti-union agenda.

Colin Smalley, President of IFPTE Local 777, said, “This petition is our attempt to use our collective voice to restore some sense to this broken system. Our union alone currently has 3 negotiated agreements and 5 claims of illegal actions by our agency ‘blocked’ by the FLRA, and not even a court order has persuaded them to act. A sister local union is waiting on the FLRA to hold an election desired by the workers. We stand proudly with other federal unions and federal workers who joined our petition to demand that the FLRA institute some accountability and transparency in how they handle cases like ours.”