§7112 Determination of Appropriate Units for Labor Organization Representation

Summary

The Authority must decide what group of employees can be represented together. It must pick a unit (like an agency, plant, installation, functional group, or other group) that lets workers freely use their rights, shows a clear community of interest, and makes bargaining and agency operations work well. The decision cannot be based only on how organized the workers already are. A unit cannot include management officials or supervisors (except as allowed under section 7135(a)(2)), confidential employees, personnel workers who do more than clerical work, employees who carry out this law, or both professionals and nonprofessionals unless most professionals agree. It also excludes employees doing intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or security work tied to national security, and staff doing internal audits or investigations to protect agency integrity. Employees who run labor-management programs may not be in a union that represents others covered by those rules or is affiliated with such a union. Two or more existing units may be merged into a larger one if the Authority finds it appropriate, and the Authority must then certify the union for the new unit.