Arbitrator Gives Nod to Library of Congress Union Over Confidentiality Issue
Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 07/26/2007
The Library of Congress (LC) and its professional union, the Library of Congress Professional Guild, AFSCME Local 2910, have been at odds over a number of issues, and an arbitrator recently gave the union a boost regarding a grievance the union said would threaten the confidentiality of its work. On October 16, 2006, LC filed a grievance, questioning whether union officials had properly reported the use of official time for union representational activity.
"My office needs to know the purpose of each contact, or if it is a meeting with supervisors or managers that does not count against the contractual limit on official time hours, we need to know the names of the supervisors and managers and topic(s) discussed so that we can verify the meeting dates and times with those supervisors and managers," the union was told. Any "insufficiently documented" time would have to be converted to annual leave or leave without pay.
The guild, which represents over 1600 professional employees, considered the grievance a threat. "This grievance has created a chill in the air," said union president Saul Schniderman, "and the threat of loss of pay called into question the institution’s commitment to the values of participation and free expression."
On July 16, arbitrator James Harkless ruled that guild officers and stewards were mostly in compliance. Though he found that a few time reports were in need of revision, he assessed LC 90 percent of the arbitrator’s fee and otherwise did not sustain the grievance. Commented Schniderman, "Employees who speak with a union steward can be assured that the subject of the discussion and the identification of the office where the employee works will remain private and confidential." The union noted that librarians and union members had sent more than 700 email messages and letters of protest to LC.
In a related grievance filed by the union against the Office of Workforce Management, the arbitrator, in a brief discussion, found in favor of LC. The grievance had charged the office with an unfair labor practice when it threatened to put guild stewards on leave without pay, or LWOP.
Asked to comment, LC spokesman Matt Raymond said that LC "has never sought official-time reporting by union officials that would in any way compromise employee confidentiality. He pointed to the loss in the second grievance, in which the union unsuccessfully charged that LC had threatened to place union officials on LWOP.
He added that three of LC's four unions "are now required to report official time to the same level of specificity, with the Guild currently being the only exception" and that, in a similar case involving the union of the Congressional Research Service, "a different arbitrator found entirely in the Library's favor. The Library continues to pursue mediation to resolve the ambiguities in the Guild's current collective bargaining agreement that contributed to this decision, to help establish consistency among the Library's bargaining units and to ensure accountability for union activities on government time."
