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Labor Management Relations Glossary

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Exclusive Recognition

Under the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (external link), 5 USC §§ 7101 ff, exclusive recognition is normally obtained by a union as a result of receiving a majority of votes cast in a representational election. (Exclusive recognitions obtained under Executive Order 10988, which didn't require secret-ballot elections, are preserved via a "grandfather" clause.)

The rights a union is accorded as a result of being certified as the exclusive representative (external link) of the employees in a bargaining unit include, among other things, the right to negotiate bargainable aspects of the conditions of employment of bargaining unit employees, to be afforded an opportunity to be present at formal discussions, to free checkoff arrangements and, at the request of the employee, to be present at Weingarten examinations of unit employees.

Exclusive Representative

("of employees in an appropriate unit" -- see § 7103(a)(16)). The union that is certified as the exclusive representative of a unit of employees either by virtue of having won a representation election or because it had been recognized as the exclusive representative before passage of the CSRA. It is an unfair labor practice for an agency to deal with other unions or organizations or special interest groups (or, for that matter, directly with unit employees -- see BYPASS and FORMAL DISCUSSION) regarding the conditions of employment of unit employees. See EXCLUSIVE RECOGNITION. A union holding exclusive recognition is sometimes referred to as the exclusive bargaining agent of the unit.

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