OPM expands functions of labor agreement database

The Office of Personnel Management launched the agency’s revamped Labor Agreement Information Retrieval System, a repository for public-sector labor agreements and bargaining unit information.OPM redesigned the Web site so users can search it using key words and terms, and can create reports from available information. The new searchable database includes representational data on all bargaining units certified by the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA), the complete texts of federal-sector collective bargaining agreements and a regularly updated summary of negotiability determinations issued by the authority. The search engine allows users to select collective bargaining agreements negotiated by a particular agency, retrieve agreements for a certain bargaining unit and search agreements on certain topics, for example. OPM worked closely with agency and union representatives during the redesign process to improve the system, OPM Director Linda Springer said. “And the result is a more useful tool for the federal labor-management relations community, which takes advantage of advances in Internet technology, database search engines and user interface facilities,” she said in a statement issued today. OPM also expanded the system to include the agency’s previously published reports of union recognition in the federal government and negotiability determinations by FLRA. The union recognition reports cover all labor organizations and bargaining units in the federal government, including where the units are located, the types and numbers of employees represented, and the dates of any related collective bargaining agreements. The negotiability determinations information summarizes determinations issued by FLRA since 1979.