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Washington, D.C.-The first-ever collective bargaining agreement for employees at the National Center for Health Care Statistics (NCHS) was signed today by National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) National President Colleen M. Kelley and Director Dr. Ed Sondik of NCHS. Included in the agreement is a provision that the agency will bargain over "permissive" bargaining issues, in line with President Clinton's executive order on partnership.

"This agreement will allow employees to have a meaningful and effective voice in a variety of workplace issues," Kelley said. The agreement to expand bargaining in line with the executive order means employees will have extensive predecisional involvement in a number of substantive issues, she noted, including the number and grades of employees and the technology, methods, or means of performing work.

The contract also contains a number of other important protections and benefits for employees, including new flexibilities for alternative work schedules and flexiplace programs. Under the contract's provisions, a new limited maxiflex schedule (LMS) is available to employees. LMS allows participants to earn and use credit hours, to vary their starting and ending times each day and to schedule an eight or nine day bi-weekly work schedule. An expansion of the flexiplace provisions means first-line supervisors will now be able to approve employees' requests to work flexiplace for periods of two weeks or less.

"These family-friendly provisions, a priority for NTEU, will allow employees to balance work and home more effectively," Kelley said. "It clearly has been shown that flexibility in the workplace has a positive impact on agency performance including reduced absenteeism, increased morale and motivation, and higher rates of employee retention."

Another contract highlight, specific to NCHS and its component of employees involved heavily in research and publication, is a provision regarding publication of agency reports and articles in research journals. The contract calls for a joint union-management publications committee and an enhanced dispute resolution process that ensures that procedures for clearing employees' articles for publication will be uniformly and fairly applied by supervisors and management.

Other rights contained in the contract involve career development including the development of "bridge" and "target" positions for employees in administrative support and clerical positions. These employees will now have more opportunity to qualify for higher-graded jobs and the contract ensures that bargaining unit employees receive first consideration for all promotions and transfers to other bargaining unit positions.

"The signing of this agreement starts another segment of our relationship with NCHS," Kelley said. "It is a foundation to be proud of as we work to make it a living document."

NCHS is a subunit of the Centers for Disease Control and its employees collect and analyze vital health care data to help formulate effective public policy in this area. The data collection and research done by NCHS employees is used by researchers worldwide as they study health care issues. NTEU represents 350 employees at the agency and is the largest independent federal union, collectively representing some 155,000 employees in 25 agencies and departments.