Whenever you wish to make a change affecting personnel policies, practices or working conditions of unit employees, the union must be given reasonable advance notice of the proposed change and the right to request impact and implementation bargaining - or I & I.

Notify your Labor Relations Specialist if you are planning any changes in these areas. Agencies have separate bargaining unit agreements which can reflect different practices and procedures on how union notification is accomplished - you should be aware of them. Local practice may allow supervisors to notify the union directly when changes are being proposed.

Whatever the local practice is, you would normally be required to give sufficient written notice to the appropriate union representative of the proposed change to working conditions, and be available, upon request, to meet and negotiate the change prior to its effectuation.

If the union does not respond to your proposal, or does not respond in a timely fashion, the union has waived its right to bargain and you can implement the proposal as outlined in the formal notification.

If the union does request negotiations, you must, to the extent possible, maintain the status quo until agreement is reached through the negotiation process.