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For my first article, I looked at our Weingarten rights, and briefly touched on the legislation that recognized workers’ rights in general and civil servants’ rights in particular. This article will talk about agreements between GESTA and Goddard management, and illustrate one example of employee rights under these agreements. The main agreement with Goddard management is the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). This 99-page document contains 44 Articles, and was signed in 1995 and revised in 2007. It can be found on the GESTA Website’s Agreements page, along with other agreements negotiated with management. The CBA can touch just about anything related to working conditions except pay scales. The CBA covers topics including grievance procedures, equal employment opportunity, official personnel records, supervision, and parking. Yes, even parking – Section 42.01 states “During the life of this Agreement, but subject to law and Executive Order, Management agrees to provide parking facilities for employees free of charge.” There is a lot more than what I’ve enumerated here, hence the 44 Articles. This agreement is nothing if not thorough.
A draft of a new CBA had been negotiated by the beginning of 2025; however, it was not signed before the new administration began, so the 1995 CBA is still the agreement in force. The world has changed a bit since 1995; for example, the internet was still young and the infrastructure for teleworking didn’t exist. To handle “things that come up” between updates to the CBA, GESTA and management can (and do) negotiate Memoranda of Agreement (MOAs). An example of an area that is in the CBA but needed extending through a Memorandum of Agreement is equal employment opportunity. The CBA (in Article 29) calls for equal opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, age, national origin, sex, or physical or mental disability, “as required by law or regulation.” It also states that “Both parties agree that discrimination based on sexual orientation or marital status will not be tolerated at the Center” as they are prohibited personnel practices. What is not included in the 1995 agreement is any mention of gender identity or transgender people. So in 2020 Goddard management and GESTA signed a MOA that documents an agreement that discrimination based on gender identity or gender expression is prohibited at GSFC. This MOA is an agreement that is just as binding as the CBA itself. There is one other form of agreement, the memorandum of understanding (MOU). As the title indicates, a MOU documents mutual understanding between GESTA and management. The difference is that a MOU is not a binding agreement. The most recent MOU addresses telework; it outlines general principles of how telework should be approved, and acknowledges that employees have the right to grieve the denial of telework. This MOU has been somewhat overtaken by this Administration’s order to end routine telework agreements; nonetheless it can serve as a basis for negotiating an MOA or a new CBA Article in a future administration or if Congress passes legislation restoring telework. That completes our tour of the different types of agreements GESTA has with management. It is well worth looking at the Web site’s Agreements page to examine the complete set of MOAs and MOUs. The next articles in this series will focus on the details of collective bargaining, grievances, and arbitration defined in the CBA. Comments are closed.
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