Telework Consultation

I think it's entirely logical that federal employee unions should be included in the Office of Personnel Management's work on expanding federal-sector telework opportunities. Whether at the Patent and Trademark Office, where telework was the one initiative that started in the labor-management partnership era under President Clinton that continued through the Bush administration, or at the National Science Foundation, where for a while, the labor relations director and the telework coordinator were the same person, unions have played productive roles in formulating strong federal telework programs. And given the collective bargaining issues at stake, it makes sense to have them at the table from the beginning.