6/25/12:  SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro today posted this notice to all SEC employees as part of a settlement with the Federal Labor Relations Authority of a bad faith bargaining unfair labor practices charge against the agency.

In this case, the FLRA alleged that the SEC engaged in what is known as “surface bargaining” in connection with its negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the Union. "Surface bargaining" is bad faith bargaining without a real intent to reach agreement. The FLRA alleged, among other things, that the SEC needlessly prolonged CBA bargaining by using unreasonable delaying tactics, such as canceling negotiating sessions, flatly refusing to respond to legitimate information requests from the Union, and refusing to include new terms in the CBA that the agency had already agreed to include in a separate 2010 contract between the SEC and the Union.

Learn more about the settlement here.