CBA Negotiations

Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) 

 

4/18/23

POPA completed our counterproposals for negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA), and submitted them to management on April 11.  We anticipate negotiations to begin the week of May 1.

The proposals are posted here.

 

11/4/2022

Management has reopened POPA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).  Last year, POPA finished negotiation of the ground rules.  We have received management’s proposals and are now working on our proposals.

Ground Rules for negotiation. 

Management's [revised] Proposals for the CBA

 

Feedback can be provided as follows:

  • Send to CBA@popa.org
  • In the subject header include the article or topic
  • Provide bullet points of your suggestion first and then provide more detail if you would like under the bullet points

 

9/6/2023 - Questions and Answers from the August 2023 CBA Sessions

Read Questions and Answers Here

 

6/7/2023 - General Update

POPA and management have completed five weeks of CBA negotiations.  To date, the articles we have covered are work schedules (Article 24), leave (Articles 25-32), articles 1 and 2 (basic legal information), dues-withholding (Article 11), pay-leave earnings statement (Article 23), probationary employees (Article H), POPA additional proposals (Article M), and retirement counselling and planning (Article J).  Training has been partially discussed.

The parties have agreed in principle (but not completed and signed off yet) on work schedules available to employees and are still discussing leave.  Some remaining issues:

  • Management wants the overtime and compensatory time eligibility to be the same, unlike today. This discussion has been placed in the parking lot for further discussion at a later time. 
  • Management wants all leave requests to be made by entering them into WebTA. We have brought up that many times it is not possible to use WebTA (such as last-minute sick leave when not feeling well) and other times it is actually easier to send an email than try to enter the leave in WebTA (such as requesting FMLA, maternity/paternity leave or different number of hours over a period of time). 

Training, included a general discussion of Article 20 (professional development) and Article 21 (non-duty time legal studies training).  We will return to the training articles again in mid-June when SME (subject matter experts) are available again.

Next up are Articles 10 (Association Facilities), Article 9 (official time), Articles 36, 37, 38 (office space, regional offices and acquisition of new space), Article D (EEO).  The lettered articles are POPA articles with no corresponding management counterproposals.  We expect management will present counterproposals as we discuss these articles.

After that set of articles, we plan to move on to Articles 12 (grievance procedures) and 13 (arbitration) as well as Articles A (adverse action and disciplinary actions:  conduct), B (adverse actions: performance) and C (performance management).

More updates will be provided as we continue negotiations.

 

5/30/2023 - General Update

 

 

 

On 11/14, POPA's legal counsel Richard Hirn hosted a webinar explaining the structure of CBA negotiations. Richard covered topics like how long negotiations will last, what can be negotiated, legal remedies for bad faith bargaining, and the like. 

Here is a summary of that talk, for those who might have missed it or need a refresher: Structure of CBA Negotiations

  

 

11/4/2022

CBA proposals and informational sessions

As POPA prepares to bargain a new collective bargaining agreement covering all POPA employees, we have information for POPA-covered employees.

  • POPA will be providing an email for POPA-covered employees to provide feedback on management’s proposals.

There is no other time available for the Richard Hirn talk on November 14 discussed in #3 or the CBA Informational Sessions occurring in the next 3 weeks discussed in #4.

Please note that these sessions must be viewed on a personal device because they are being hosted by Zoom.  You can register for the sessions on your government UL or personal device using a personal email or work email.

 

  • In preparation for negotiations, Richard Hirn, POPA’s legal counsel will be holding a talk entitled “Introduction to the FLRA and Collective Bargaining Process:  What POPA Members Need to Know as We Bargain a New Contract”.  The talk will be held by Zoom on Monday, November 14, 2-3 pm ET.  Registration is required as space is limited.  Link to register:

 

When: Nov 14, 2022 02:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Topic: Introduction to the FLRA and Collective Bargaining Process

 

  • POPA will be holding CBA informational sessions.  Registration is required as space is limited.  Please only register for one session as each session will cover the same information.  We will try to answer as many questions as we can during the sessions (using the chat box) but we will post answers to questions on our website.

 

CBA Informational Sessions:

11/7 (Monday)

When: Nov 7, 2022 04:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Topic: CBA Information Session


11/9 (Wednesday)

When: Nov 9, 2022 01:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Topic: CBA Information Session

 

11/15 (Tuesday)

When: Nov 15, 2022 04:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Topic: CBA Information Session

 

11/18 (Friday)

When: Nov 18, 2022 02:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Topic: CBA Information Session

11/21 (Monday)


When: Nov 21, 2022 04:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Topic: CBA Information Session

11/22 (Tuesday)


When: Nov 22, 2022 09:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Topic: CBA Information Session