National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 1263 v. Commandant, Defense Language Institute

This case raises, for the first time in this Circuit, the question whether under the Federal Labor-Management Relations Statute, Title VII of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, 5 U.S.C. § 7101 et seq. (“the Act”), a private party, namely the National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 1263 (“the Union”), can invoke the limited jurisdiction of a federal district court to provide injunctive relief in a labor dispute with a federal agency, namely the Defense Language Institute (“the Institute”), a division of the United States Army. The Act, which is carefully drafted to follow the statutory scheme of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”), expressly provides that the district court may grant injunctive relief only upon petition of the Federal Labor Relations Authority (“FLRA”) when that agency has met a probable cause requirement after issuing an unfair labor practice complaint. Accordingly, the Court answers the question in the negative and dismisses the case.

I

A

The Union brought this suit against the Commandant of the Institute and the Secretary of the Army, seeking injunctive relief to require defendants to bargain over the impact of a proposed reduction…