Federal Employee Unions and the First Session, Eightieth Congress

• Author: Reed L. Frischknecht
• Published date: 01 June 1948
• Date: 01 June 1948
• DOI: 10.1177/106591294800100209
• Subject Matter: Articles

FEDERAL EMPLOYEE UNIONS AND THE FIRST
SESSION, EIGHTIETH CONGRESS
by
REED L. FRISCHKNECHT*
Research Fellow in Political Science,
University of Utah
The national government, in dealing with its employees, is confronted
with questions of policy broadly similar to those encountered by corpora-
tions and other private employers. Lobbying is the real source of bargaining
power for governmental employee unions. It is contended that if these unions
did not possess the right to go before the legislative body to present their
problems, they would be foreclosed from the real source of relief, since the
basic improvements which they seek and desire are usually attainable only
by Congressional action.
Since the passage of the Lloyd-LaFollette Act of 1912,~ the right of
federal employees to lobby has not been questioned. As a result most of the
major organizations maintain their headquarters and lobbyists in Washing-
ton, D. C.2
Public Law 601, sec. 308 (b) passed by the Seventy-ninth Congress
qualifies this right and further regulates lobbying in that all lobbyists must
register each calendar quarter with the secretaries of the Senate and the
House of Representatives giving the following information: Name of the
lobbyist, organization represented, salary and expenses incurred in lobbying
activities, and the type of legislation lobbied for or against.3
3
Legislative tactics, which are most important because of the nature of
public employment, usually take the form of petitioning Congress, lobbying,
and exerting pressure through affiliation. Most federal employee unions,
including two of the largest, the National Federation of Federal Employees
and the United Public Workers of America maintain headquarters in the
nation’s capitol. Each has a legislative department with full time registered
lobbyists who follow legislation carefully and appear at committee hearings
to advocate or oppose bills affecting the public service and its employees.
The factual data and inside opinion...