They are concerned that family-friendly policies are not being uniformly implemented and administered in the government. Managers might want to brush up on these policies before the inquiries begin. Expect them to start soon. While we found no indication that the quality of the current federal work force or those hired in recent years has been declining, many federal managers said there has been a noticeable decline in the quality of applicants for federal jobs. It's gotten so bad over the past several years.
Nobody respects the government anymore.
FLRA Expands Union Rights Federal union representatives have the right to be present at settlement negotiations and discussions of Merit Systems Protection Board appeals between agencies and bargaining unit employees even when the employees have their own attorneys with them. That is the gist of a recent Federal Labor Relations Authority ruling. The agency had argued that allowing the union to be present where confidential information might be disclosed would violate the Privacy Act. FLRA did not buy that argument, according to a late 1997 decision that is making the rounds right now. While buyouts over the past several years have helped the government trim its employment rolls primarily through voluntary separations, RIFs remain a possibility for a large number of agencies.