Section 1. The Library agrees to recognize one (1) Chief Steward for the bargaining unit and a steward for each seventy-five (75) employees in the bargaining unit.

Section 2.

1. Stewards designated by the Guild are authorized to perform the following duties on behalf of employees within the organizational unit to which they have been assigned by the Guild:

1. discuss complaints, grievances, and appeals with bargaining unit employees and/or other Guild representatives;
2. prepare and present grievances and appeals on behalf of bargaining unit employees;
3. attend meetings with supervisors and management officials to discuss grievances and appeals; and
4. represent employees in grievance, appeal, and dispute resolution proceedings.

2. Stewards and Guild officers are responsible for serving as representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining, handling grievances and appeals, furthering effective labor-management relations, or acting in accordance with applicable regulations and agreements on behalf of an employee or a group of employees.
3. Guild representatives will be provided with access to telephones with outside lines so that they may properly conduct their duties.

Section 3. Official Time for Representational Functions

1. Actual times for meetings with management and time for presentation of grievances, disputes, complaints, etc., shall not be charged against the official time provided below.
2. The Guild President and Chief Steward shall be allowed a reasonable amount of official time to perform their duties as employee representatives, subject to the limitations of law. The amount of time used may not exceed 1560 hours per person per year.
3. Each steward will be allowed a maximum of twenty (20) hours per month for preparation of grievances, disputes, appeals, etc., with the option to transfer hours between stewards by written notice (except in emergencies) to the Library in advance. In emergency situations the written notice will follow. Under extraordinary circumstances the Guild may exceed its allotted monthly time and the hours will be subtracted from the next month and used for the current month.
4. The use of official time for representational activities will be recorded on the Form 468 using the following five reporting categories. Stewards will report starting and ending times on Form 468. The President and Chief Steward will report total hours spent on each category in the aggregate.

1. Meetings with Management: time spent with management representatives in any representational activity such as meetings and consultations, negotiations, grievance and appeal presentations, FLRA proceedings, arbitration hearings, formal meetings, and Weingarten investigative meetings:

1. include an identifier such as the name of the manager or name of the group/meeting;
2. stewards will indicate room number where the meeting took place; and
3. indicate total number of hours in the “Library” column.

2. Term Negotiations: time used to prepare for and negotiate a basic collective bargaining agreement or its successor.
3. Mid-term Negotiations: time used to prepare for and bargain over issues raised during the life of a term agreement. After the parties have identified the subject matter(s) of bargaining, the Guild representative’s report will include a brief reference to the subject matter.
4. Grievances, Dispute Resolution, and Appeals: time used to investigate, evaluate, research, prepare, and process disputes, grievances, clarification of unit, unfair labor practice charges, adverse actions, EEO complaints, performance rating appeals, etc.
5. General Labor-Management Relations: time used to confer with unit employees regarding working conditions and contract interpretation; review and study of Library policies or other matters affecting the unit; research, preparation, and distribution of labor-management information to unit employees; labor relations training for Guild representatives; compliance with reporting and disclosure requirements; providing information to Congress and other government agencies; general contract administration, and related matters. When officials use this category to report official time on Form 468, they will identify which of the specific sub-categories the official time was used for, regardless of the length of time used.

5. Any activities performed by any employee relating to the internal business of the Guild (including the solicitation of membership, elections of Guild officials, and collection of dues) shall be performed during the time the employee is in a nonduty status as per 5 U.S.C. sec. 7131(b).

Section 4. Guild representatives will advise their supervisors before leaving their assigned work areas for the purposes indicated above. The supervisor's permission will normally be granted except when in his/her opinion workloads preclude such approval. Prior to contacting an employee on official time, the steward shall contact the employee's supervisor, advise him/her of his/her reasons therefore, and obtain permission to contact the employee. Supervisory permission will normally be granted except where workloads preclude such approval. The stewards will report to their supervisors when they return to their assigned duties. Guild representatives will comply with management decisions to delay or deny official time. When a supervisor delays or denies a request for official time, deadlines will be extended and meetings rescheduled as necessary.

Section 5. The Guild recognizes its responsibility to ensure that its representatives do not abuse their use of official time by unduly absenting themselves from their assigned work area, and that such representatives will make every effort to perform representational and consultation functions in a proper and expeditious manner. Nothing contained in this section permits the Library to willfully, arbitrarily, or capriciously abuse its authority by refusing to grant official time for stewards and/or officers to perform their representational functions. The Parties will cooperate in inquiries into the use of official time.

Section 6. The Guild agrees to supply the Labor Management Relations Office in writing, and shall maintain on a current basis, a complete list of all officers and stewards. The Guild will notify the Library as to who will be using representational time.

Section 7. The Library agrees it will consult with the Guild prior to placing stewards on special assignments and/or details away from the area in which they serve.

Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave. SE
Washington, D.C. 20540
Comments: lcweb@loc.gov
(02/11/08)