Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., is leading a union-busting effort at the Department of Defense by trying to attack official time that federal workers use to work with management to fix issues at their facilities, including understaffing and morale. Thanks to AFGE and a bipartisan group of legislators who support this important tool, his effort failed.
Perry offered an amendment to the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act on the House floor to require the Department of Defense to report on the use of official time, the decades-old practice that’s often misrepresented to slander unions and federal workers.
Thanks to AFGE’s efforts educating members of Congress on the issue, his amendment failed with 23 Republicans joining all voting Democrats in opposition.
What is official time?
Official time is the practice in which federal managers and employees work together to make government more efficient, productive, and just.
The federal government is an open shop, meaning employees are not required to join the union or pay union dues. But under federal law, unions must provide fair representation to all employees at the worksite – not just those who pay dues. In exchange for this legal obligation, the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 allowed federal employee unions to bargain with agencies over official time. Under this law, federal employees who volunteer as union representatives are permitted to use official time to engage in negotiations and perform representational duties while on duty status.
Union representatives can only use official time to:
- Create safe working conditions. Union representatives help identify health and safety hazards in the workplace. When the workplace is safe, workers tend to use less sick leave and workers’ compensation benefits.
- Protect employees from discrimination and retaliation. Union representatives use official time to defend employees who have been discriminated against or face retaliation for blowing the whistle on mismanagement.
- Resolve disputes proactively. Union representatives meet with managers on official time to resolve workplace problems before they escalate into costly litigation.
- Negotiate contracts. Having an agreed-upon labor-management contract benefits both the employer and employees. For example, a contract establishes an agreement that sets working conditions and serves as a reference when disagreements arise. It also makes the costs associated with employment more predictable.
- Represent their co-workers in grievances and disciplinary actions. Due process is crucial in a democratic society. It is needed in the federal government as seen from the thousands of cases AFGE has won in which federal employees have been wrongfully disciplined or fired.
Official time has been vital to improving government operations. Federal workers at the Department of Veterans Affairs, for example, have used official time to testify before Congress about inadequate staffing, patient access to specialized care, and prolonged wait times for appointments. Federal correctional officers have used official time to sound an alarm on severe understaffing and the Bureau of Prisons’ inability to recruit and retain employees. DoD employees have used official time to report on unsafe working conditions and to represent rank and file workers who speak out.
Congress must protect federal employees’ official time rights and oppose any attempts to eliminate the use of official time within the federal government. AFGE strongly opposes any legislative effort to erode, restrict, or eliminate the ability of elected union representatives to use official time to represent both dues and non-dues paying federal employees.