Labor - Management Relations 345
Printing Offi ce. The exclusions include federal employees working for the
Government Accountability Offi ce (GAO), Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI), National Security Agency (NSA), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA),
Federal Labor Relations Authority, Federal Service Impasses Panel, Tennessee
Valley Authority (TVA), Foreign Service of the United States, U.S. Secret
Service and U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division, Department of State,
U.S. Information Agency, and Agency for International Development and
its successor agency or agencies, the U.S. Postal Service, and employees
engaged in administering a labor - management relations law. TVA employ-
ees and postal employees are covered by other statutes. TVA employees
are covered by the Employment Relationship Policy Act of the New Deal
and have been covered since 1935. The Postal Reorganization Act of 1970
granted collective bargaining rights to postal employees under the NLRA.
However, unlike private sector employees, postal employees are denied
the right to strike. Employees working for the GAO, FBI, NSA, and CIA
have no statutory authority to engage in collective bargaining.
With the creation in 2003 of the Department of Homeland Security,
many federal employees who had collective bargaining rights saw those
rights slip away. On January 7, 2002, President Bush issued Executive
Order 13252 that prevented unions from organizing the following subdivi-
sions in the Department of Justice, citing national security concerns: U.S.
Attorneys ’ Offi ces, Criminal Division, INTERPOL - U.S. Central Bureau,
the National Drug Intelligence Center, and the Offi ce of Intelligence
Policy and Review. James M. Loy, the head of the Transportation Security
Administration, successfully blocked attempts to unionize airport screen-
ers, also citing that collective bargaining rights could jeopardize national
security. Both the Senate and the House have introduced bills to grant
screeners collective bargaining rights. At this time, however, the rights do
not exist.
Title VII of the CSRA enacted the provision known as the
Federal Service Labor - Management Relations Statute, which created
the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) to administer and enforce the
CSRA. The FLRA is governed by three bipartisan members who
are appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate.
The members are appointed for staggered fi ve - year terms.
Dissatisfi ed parties may appeal rulings made by the FLRA to the U.S.
Court of Appeals. The authority of the FLRA is similar to the NLRB.
It determines appropriate bargaining units, supervises and conducts
union elections, conducts hearings and resolves allegations of unfair labor
practices, prescribes criteria and resolves issues relating to determining