A majority of the executives have a dim view of the union workplaces. They see the union shops as having lower productivity than non-union ones. Also, they believed that ninety percent of union shops have lower levels of worker loyalty. Executive Order 12871 instructed government agencies to bargain with the unions over many personnel issues. The FLRA has been unsuccessful in their attempts to compel management to follow the executive order.
Management contends that the unions want to bargain over issues of their choosing.
Because of management and the unions disagreements the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is now hearing the arguments to determine whether federal agencies must expand the scope of bargaining with employee unions. AFGE has numerous complaints about OPM's disregard for them. Management must negotiate with unions over issues that the unions want to discuss in between formal agreements. The unions view the ruling as what is needed to prevent management from making changes to the workplace without negotiating changes with them. On the other hand, management sees this ruling as contributing to possible disruption to the agency operations.