The Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute outlines the broad matters over which management and a union must negotiate and identifies rights that are reserved to management, and those that may be negotiated at management's discretion. The obligation to negotiate requires discussion and consideration of the other party's proposals. Negotiating or collective bargaining is the mutual obligation of management and the union to meet at reasonable times and bargain in a good faith effort to reach agreement with respect to conditions of employment affecting employees represented by the union. Conditions of employment is a broad term which encompasses personnel policies, practices, and matters affecting working conditions.
Negotiations occur at different times.
The most publicized occasion is the formal negotiations which result in a written document that is usually distributed to all members of the bargaining unit and to all supervisors and management officials on the installation. The document may be referred to as the union contract, collective bargaining agreement, or labor-management negotiated agreement. When an agreement is reached, management and the union are entitled to have the agreement committed to writing and implemented. Collective bargaining does not, however, compel either the union or management to agree to the other's proposal or to make a particular concession.