§7112 Determination of appropriate units for labor organization representation

Summary

The Authority must decide what groups of employees (units) are right for union representation. It must pick units to protect employees’ freedom to use their rights, and only approve a unit if the workers have a clear shared interest and the unit helps the agency deal with unions and run efficiently. Units can be by agency, plant, installation, job function, or other basis. A unit cannot be approved just because people have organized, and it must not include certain people such as management officials or supervisors (except as allowed in section 7135(a)(2)), confidential employees, non‑clerical personnel staff, those who administer this chapter, mixed professional and nonprofessional employees unless most professionals agree, employees in intelligence or security work affecting national security, or employees whose main job is internal investigation or audit for honesty and integrity. An employee who helps administer labor‑management law may not be in a union that represents others covered by that law or is affiliated with such a union. Two or more units in an agency that the same union exclusively represents may be combined into a larger unit, with a petition from the agency or the union, if the Authority finds the larger unit appropriate. The Authority then certifies the union for the new unit, with or without an election.