Evening star., 1946-05-03
Civil Service
|ChiefsDenounce
Bargaining Plan
Personnel Councils
Proposal Called
Ill Considered
BY Joseph Young

Civil Service Commission officials
today expressed their outright op-
position to plan advanced within
the Council of Personnel Admins
tration to grant limited collective
bargaining rights to Federal en-
ployes' unions.
1.-The commission will never ap-
prove plan like this in hundred
years." one of the commissions top
officials predicted. Any recommen-
dation made by the council must be
approved by the commission before
it is presented for the Presidents
consideration.
If any plan was ill-considered,
this is it," the official said. He re-
vealed that commission officials
were Mortified" when they first
learned of the proposal.
Dissension and Confusion.
Commission officials base their op-
position to the plan on the asser-
ton that collective bargaining elec-
tlons in the various bureaus would
lead to dissension and confusion as
unions battled among themselves for
exclusive bargaining rights.
And the vast bulk of Government
employees who don't belong to any
union would be caught in between
this battle" commission Spokes-
man said.
Increasing opposition to the plan
has come from various agency
heads, to whom the drafted report
has been sent for comment. 1t was
implied in story in Tuesdays Star
that the report had been put before
the Civil Service Commission, but
this was in error.
Proposals in Report.
The report. which was advocated
by the councils Personnel Rela-
tions COMMITTEE, proposes that the
union having the greatest numer-
lcal strength in an agency or bureau
would be recognized as the bar
gaining group for all the employees
in the section. This would pertain
to everything except wages. CoIlec-
tive bargaining in wages in Govern
ment is regarded as an impossibility
since Congress fixes the pay scales
of Federal workers.
Under the proposal, written
agreements" or contracts could be
entered into by Federal agencies
and unions on matters pertaining
to working conditions, grievances,
granting of leave, vacations and
other personnel problems
The strong opposition to the COM
mlttee proposal has caused the
| council to send it back to it's per-
sonnel relations group for further
study and revision. The council,
composed of the personnel directors
OF various Federal agencies, serves
IN an advisory capacity to the Civil
Service Commission.
Truman Expresses Views.
Meanwhile, President Truman
told his press conference yester-
day he did not believe in strikes
i against the Government, declaring
that If they ever happened the
Government would cease to exist.
President Truman made his state
ment IN response to question by
Elisabeth May Craig, correspondent
for group of Maine newspapers.
Apparently referring to the plan
to grant limited collective bar
gaining rights to Federal employees
unions, Mrs. Craig asked:
will you allow executive depart
ments to bargain collectively with
unions whose constitutions permit
strikes against the Government
] Mr.. Truman did not answer the
question directly, but emphasized
that strikes against the Government
could not be allowed.
| The collective bargaining proposal
before the Council specifically states
that Federal employees unions
should not be given the right to
strike and that the plan should not
be interpreted in this light.
| Among the three major Govern
ment workers union, the CLOS new
United Public Workers of America
has 9 loophole in it's constitution
which does not completely bar
the possibility of strikes against
the Government, although the union
| adopted mo strike" nolicy