Fed. Employees v Dept. of Interior

• Citation: 143 L.Ed.2d 171,119 S.Ct. 1003,526 U.S. 86
• Decision Date: 03 March 1999
• Docket Number: 971184
• Parties: (97-1184) 132 F.3d 157, vacated and remanded. SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 119 S.Ct. 1003 143 L.Ed.2d 171 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES v. DEPARTMENT OF INTERIORON WRITS OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT [
• Court: United States Supreme Court

526 U.S. 86

119 S.Ct. 1003

143 L.Ed.2d 171

132 F.3d 157, vacated and remanded

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

FEDERAL EMPLOYEES v DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR

Nos. 97-1184 and 97-1243

ON WRITS OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

[March 3, 1999]

Justice Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court.

The Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute requires federal agencies and the unions that represent their employees to "meet and negotiate in good faith for the purposes of arriving at a collective bargaining agreement." 5 U.S. C. §7114(a)(4). We here consider whether that duty to bargain extends to a clause proposed by a union that would bind the parties to bargain midterm-that is, while the basic comprehensive labor contract is in effect-about subjects not included in that basic contract. We reverse a lower court holding that the statutory duty to bargain does not encompass midterm bargaining (or bargaining about midterm bargaining). We conclude that the Statute delegates to the Federal Labor Relations Authority the legal power to determine whether the parties must engage in midterm bargaining (or bargaining about that matter). We remand these cases so that the Authority may exercise that power.

I

Congress enacted the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (Statute or FSLMRS) in 1978. See 5 U.S.C. § 7101 et seq. Declaring that "labor organizations and collective bargaining in the civil service are in the public interest," §7101(a), the Statute grants federal agency employees the right to organize, provides for collective bargaining, and defines various unfair labor practices. See §§7114(a)(1), 7116. It creates the Federal Labor Relations Authority, which it makes responsible for implementing the Statute through the exercise of broad adjudicatory, policymaking, and rulemaking powers. §§7104, 7105. And it establishes within the Authority a Federal Service Impasses Panel, to which it grants the power to resolve negotiation impasses through compulsory arbitration, §7119, hence without the strikes that the law forbids to federal employees, §7116(b)(7).

Of particular relevance here, the Statute requires a federal agency employer to "meet" with the employees' collective-bargaining representative and to "negotiate in good faith for the purposes of arriving at a collective bargaining agreement." §7114(a)(4). The Courts of Appeals disagree about whether, or the extent to which, this good-faith-bargaining requirement extends to midterm bargaining. Suppose, for example, that the federal agency and the union negotiate a basic 5-year contract. In the third year a matter arises that the contract does not address. If the union seeks negotiations about the matter, does the Statute require the agency to bargain then and there, or can the agency wait for basic contract renewal negotiations? Does it matter whether the basic contract itself contains a "zipper clause" expressly forbidding such bargaining? Does it matter whether the basic contract itself contains a clause expressly permitting midterm bargaining? Can the parties insist upon bargaining endterm (that is , during the negotiations over adopting or renewing a basic labor contract) about whether to include one or the other such clauses in the basic contract itself? In 1985 the Authority began to answer some of these questions. It considered a union's effort to force midterm negotiations about a matter the basic labor contract did not address, and it held that the Statute did not require the agency to bargain. Internal Revenue Service, 17 F. L. R. A. 731 (1985) (IRS I).

The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, however, set aside the Authority's ruling. The court held that in light of the intent and purpose of the Statute, it must be read to require midterm bargaining, inasmuch as it did not create any distinction between bargaining at the end of a labor contract's term and bargaining during that term. National Treasury Employees Union v. FLRA, 810 F.2d 295 (1987) (NTEU). On remand the Authority reversed its earlier position. Internal Revenue Service, 29 F. L. R. A. 162, 166 (1987) (IRS II). Accepting the D. C. Circuit's analysis, the Authority held:

"[T]he duty to bargain in good faith imposed by the Statute requires an agency to bargain during the term of a collective bargaining agreement on negotiable union-initiated proposals concerning matters which are not addressed in the [basic] agreement and were not clearly and unmistakably waived by the union during negotiation of the agreement." Id., at 167.

The Fourth Circuit has taken a different view of the matter. It has held that "union-initiated midterm bargaining is not required by the statute and would undermine the congressional policies underlying the statute." Social Security Administration v. FLRA, 956 F.2d 1280, 1281 (1992) (SSA). Nor, in its view, may the basic labor contract itself impose a midterm bargaining duty upon the parties. Department of Energy v. FLRA, 106 F.3d 1158, 1163 (1997) (holding unlawful a midterm bargaining clause that the Federal Service Impasses Panel had imposed upon the parties' basic labor contract).

In the present suit, the National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 1309 (Union), representing employees of the United States Geological Survey, a subagency of the Department of the Interior (Agency), proposed including in the basic labor contract a midterm bargaining provision that said, "The Union may request and the Employer will be obliged to negotiate [midterm] on any negotiable matters not covered by the provisions of this [basic] agreement." Department of Interior, 52 F. L. R. A. 475, 476 (1996).

The Agency, relying on the Fourth Circuit's view that the Statute prohibits such a provision, refused to accept, or to bargain about, the proposed clause. The Authority, reiterating its own (and the D. C. Circuit's) contrary view, held that the Agency's refusal to bargain amounted to an unfair labor practice. Id., at 479-481. The Statute itself, said the Authority, imposes an obligation to engage in midterm bargaining-an obligation that the proposed clause only reiterates. Id., at 479-480. And even if such an obligation did not exist under the Statute, the Authority added, a proposal to create a contractual obligation to bargain midterm is a fit subject for endterm negotiation. Id., at 480-481. Consequently, the Authority ordered the Agency to bargain over the proposed clause.

The Fourth Circuit set aside the Authority's order. 132 F.3d 157 (1997). The court reiterated its own view that the Statute itself does not impose any midterm bargaining duty. Id., at 161-162. That being so, it concluded, the parties should not be required to bargain endterm about including a clause that would require bargaining midterm. The court reasoned that once bargaining over such a clause began, the employer would have no choice but to accept the clause. Were the employer not to do so (by bargaining to impasse over the proposed clause), the Federal Service Impasses Panel would then inevitably insert the clause over the employer's objection, as the Impasses Panel (like the D. C. Circuit) believes that a midterm bargaining clause would merely reiterate the duty to bargain midterm that the Statute itself imposes. Ibid.

We granted certiorari to consider the conflicting views of the Circuits.

II

We shall focus primarily upon the basic question that divided the Circuits: Does the Statute itself impose a duty to bargain during the term of an existing labor contract? The Fourth Circuit thought that the Statute did not impose a duty to bargain midterm and that the matter was sufficiently clear to warrant judicial rejection of the contrary view of the agency charged with the Statute's administration. SSA, supra, at 1284 (stating that " 'Congress has directly spoken to the precise question at issue,' " and quoting Chevron U.S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 842 (1984)). We do not agree with the Fourth Circuit, for we find the Statute's language sufficiently ambiguous or open on the point as to require judicial deference to reasonable interpretation or elaboration by the agency charged with its execution. See Chevron, supra, at 842-845; Fort Stewart Schools v. FLRA, 495 U.S. 641, 644-645 (1990).

The D. C. Circuit, the Fourth Circuit, and the Authority all agree that the Statute itself does not expressly address union-initiated midterm bargaining. See NTEU, 810 F.2d, at 298; SSA, supra, at 1284; Brief for Petitioner FLRA in No. 97-1243, p. 18. The Statute's relevant language simply says that federal agency employer and union representative "shall meet and negotiate in good faith for the purposes of arriving at a collective bargaining agreement." 5 U.S.C. § 7114(a)(4). It defines the key term "collective bargaining agreement" as an "agreement entered into as a result of collective bargaining." §7103(a)(8). And it goes on to define "collective bargaining" as involving the meeting of employer and employee representatives "at reasonable times" to "consult" and to "bargain in a good-faith effort to reach agreement with respect to the conditions of employment," incorporating "any collective bargaining agreement reached" as a result of these negotiations in "a written document." §7103(a)(12 ). This language, taken literally, may or may not include a duty to bargain collectively midterm.

The Agency, here represented by the Solicitor General, argues that in context, this language must exclude midterm bargaining. We shall explain why we do not agree with each of the Agency's basic arguments.

First, the Agency makes a variety of linguistic arguments. As an initial matter, it emphasizes the words "arriving at" in the Statute's general statement that the parties must bargain "for the purposes of arriving at a collective bargaining agreement." This statement tends to exclude midterm bargaining, the Agency...