NCJ Number
101080
Date Published
1983
Length
15 pages
Annotation
To examine the impact of grievance and arbitration processes on Federal personnel policies and practices, semistructured interviews were conducted with 81 management and 61 union officials at 20 national Government bargaining units.
Abstract
Results indicate that nearly two-thirds of those interviewed felt that grievance and arbitration processes impacted personnel policies and practices. Majority (62 percent) support was found for two of four impact propositions, namely that (1) representation of employees under the negotiated grievance procedure will impact on personnel policies and practices, and (2) negotiated grievance procedure coverage of discipline actions will impact on discipline polices and practices. Negligible support was found for the proposition that negotiated grievance procedure coverage of promotion actions impact on promotion practice and policy. Nor did respondents feel that representation of employees under the negotiated arbitration procedure impacts on personnel policies and practices. Results also suggest that the administration of the grievance process will become a more significant component of bilateral relations as bargaining units grow in size and practitioners gain experience. Little impact seemed to be associated with the type or scope of the grievance process, but it did seem to vary with the substance of the grievance. Discipline grievances were much more likely to be processed than promotion grievances. Finally, arbitration was rarely resorted to, and was used only by the four largest units studied. 20 references and 3 discussion questions.