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the form of organization desired by
employees is out of step With the times.
Should one or several organizations
in a Department be recognized?
An important question presents itself
to an administrator when several groups
of employees within his unit believe
themselves to be occupationally differ
entiated from the rest and therefore
wish to deal separately from the pre
valent organization of employees in the
unit. If the wrong precedent is set, the
administrator may find himself regular
ly dealing with a dozen groups when
perhaps one might suffice. The issue, in
private industry, is the familiar one of
the vertical, or plant-wide organization,
as compared with the horizontal, or
craft-limited organization, although
this is not always the line of difference.
Separate representation-and officers for
small, scattered, special groups or work
ers may involve excessive complications
and difficulties and may make substan
tial parity of conditions of employment
hard to attain.
Should a government unit make a
formal contract with an employee or
ganization?
In privately owned industry the em
ployer who sincerely negotiates with an
organization and comes to terms with
it must, under prevailing practice con
firmed by a Supreme Court decision,
embody this agreement in a formal
w ritten contract. Presumably this is
binding upon both parties, but the de
gree to which the contract is legally
enforceable depends on circumstances.
In a government operation such a
contract is circumscribed. As President
Franklin D. Roosevelt stated in 1937,
in a letter to the President of the N a
tional Federation of Federal Employees:
Meticulous attention should be
paid, to the special relationships and
obligations of public servants to the
public itself and to the Government.
All government employees should
realize that the process of collective
bargaining, as usually understood,
cannot be transplanted into the pub
lic service. It has its distinct and in
surmountable limitations when ap
plied to public personnel manage
ment. The very nature and purpose
of Government make it impossible
for administrative officials to repre
sent fully or to bind the employer in
m utual discussions with Government
employee organizations. The employer
is the whole people, who speak by
means of laws enacted by their re
presentatives in Congress. Accord
ingly, administrative officials and
employees alike are governed and
guided, and in many instances re
stricted, by laws which establish
policies, procedures, or rules in per
sonnel matters.
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OREGON CULVERT &
PIPE COMPANY
C oncrete C ulvert, Sew er, Irrig a tio n O verhead P re ssu re
S p rin k le r System s, C o rru g ated P ip e and M u lti-P la te
(W hen restrictio n s are rem oved)
Lancaster 4145
r
2321 S.È. Gladstone
Portland, Oregon