In 1962, President Kennedy issued Executive Order 10988 “Employee-Management Cooperation in the Federal Service” which guaranteed collective bargaining rights to federal employees. Kennedy believed, and 58 years later it is still true, that “participation of employees in the formulation and implementation of personnel policies affecting them contributes to effective conduct of public business…”
Unions in both the federal sector and private sector share a lot in common, although there are differences in the labor laws that govern them. The biggest difference is that there are no strikes or lockouts in the federal government. For that reason, relationships between agencies and unions are, generally speaking, more collaborative than adversarial.
In the private sector, all pay, health and retirement benefits and work rules are determined by bargaining. In the federal sector, particularly with the FAA, bargaining only addresses some aspects of pay and work rules. Annual pay adjustments and health and retirement benefits are generally determined by Congress, which is why federal sector unions including PASS advocate on behalf of employees on Capitol Hill.
Federal unions also play a role in protecting merit principles:employees should be hired and promoted based on skills and qualifications, not politics or favoritism. Another difference is that employees cannot be required to pay fees or dues to a union in the federal sector. However, the more dues-paying members a union has to support it, the better equipped the union is to bargain and enforce contracts. This show of support also helps when having discussions with members of Congress. (However, union dues are never used for contributions to political campaigns.) In addition, PASS works collaboratively with the FAA on many fronts, including advertising opportunities for professional development on many agency workgroups and projects. You can find out more in Article 13 of the ATO contract or Article 23 of the AVS contract. Those opportunities are made available to union members first.
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