[Senate Hearing 108-95] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] S. Hrg. 108-95 NOMINATION OF PETER J. EIDE ======================================================================= HEARING before the COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON THE NOMINATION OF PETER J. EIDE, TO BE GENERAL COUNSEL, FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY __________ APRIL 10, 2003 __________ Printed for the use of the Committee on Governmental Affairs 88-243 U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 2003 ____________________________________________________________________________ For Sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpr.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800; (202) 512�091800 Fax: (202) 512�092250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402�090001 COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine, Chairman TED STEVENS, Alaska JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio CARL LEVIN, Michigan NORM COLEMAN, Minnesota DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware PETER G. FITZGERALD, Illinois MARK DAYTON, Minnesota JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire FRANK LAUTENBERG, New Jersey RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama MARK PRYOR, Arkansas Michael D. Bopp, Staff Director and Chief Counsel Johanna L. Hardy, Senior Counsel John C. Salamone, Professional Staff Member, Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce and the District of Columbia Subcommittee Joyce Rechtschaffen, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel Lawrence B. Novey, Minority Counsel Jennifer E. Hamilton, Minority Research Assistant Darla D. Cassell, Chief Clerk C O N T E N T S ------ Opening statements: Page Senator Voinovich............................................ 1 Senator Akaka................................................ 3 Senator Durbin............................................... 4 WITNESS Thursday, April 10, 2003 Hon. Peter J. Eide, to be General Counsel, Federal Labor Relations Authority Testimony.................................................... 5 Prepared Statement........................................... 15 Biographical and professional information.................... 16 Pre-hearing questions and responses for the Record........... 26 Post-hearing questions and responses for the Record submitted to the Hon. Peter Eide from Senator Lautenberg............. 47 Post-hearing questions and responses for the Record submitted to the Hon. Peter Eide from Senator Akaka.................. 51 Appendix Letters submitted by Senator Akaka from: American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, dated April 9, 2003.............................................. 54 National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), dated March 26, 2003....................................................... 56 Association of Administrative Law Judges, Inc., dated August 1, 2002.................................................... 58 NOMINATION OF PETER J. EIDE ---------- THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 2003 U.S. Senate, Committee on Governmental Affairs, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:38 a.m., in room SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. George Voinovich presiding. Present: Senators Voinovich, Akaka, and Durbin. OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR VOINOVICH Senator Voinovich. Good morning. I want to thank you for coming, Mr. Eide. Today, the Committee on Governmental Affairs meets to discuss the nomination of Peter Eide for the position of General Counsel at the Federal Labor Relations Authority. I would like to extend a warm greeting to Mr. Eide and his family that are here in attendance. Senator Akaka and I have had a chance to meet your daughter Cheryl and son-in-law Ray, and grandchildren Savannah and Austin, and daughters Karalyn Eide and Merissa Eide. We are glad you are here today. Mr. Eide, I strongly believe in the nobility of public service and I commend you for answering the President's call to serve our Nation. Your qualifications include extensive labor management relations experience, first as an employee, and president of the local union at the National Labor Relations Board, and then in the private sector. As General Counsel, your responsibilities would include managing the OGC's seven regional offices, processing unfair labor practice allegations, encouraging the use of alternate dispute resolution techniques, and promoting stable and productive labor management relations in the Federal sector. As a former mayor and governor, I understand the importance of establishing positive labor management relationships based on open communication and trust. During my career I have worked conscientiously to bring people together and when I came to the Senate I embarked on a bipartisan approach to solve our government's human capital challenges. I must say that Senator Akaka has been my partner in this endeavor. During this Committee's consideration of the homeland security legislation, last July, I worked with Senator Akaka to add key provisions of my human capital bill. The bipartisan effort made necessary changes in the Federal personnel policy to allow Federal agencies the flexibility to get the right people with the right skills and knowledge at the right place and time. Also during the homeland security debate I strongly encouraged the President to meet with unions to discuss their concerns about the homeland security bill. I do not know whether you know this or not, but the unions believed that they were being excluded from the process because of the President repealing the Executive Order establishing labor management partnerships which had been in existence with the previous administration. I encouraged the administration to continue the partnership agreement, and unfortunately it did not happen. So I understand why the unions are concerned and I would hope that you might encourage the administration to review the partnership agreement. I think it would help foster better labor/management partnerships. In addition, the administration issued an Executive Order barring unions from the U.S. Attorney's Office. This issue came up, Mr. Eide, in an unusual way and it worked its way through the system and ended up before the Board, which became irrelevant during the process because the President pre-empted the Board's decision by issuing the Executive Order exempting unions from the Office of U.S. Attorneys. So there is a problem here, and I think we need to work on it. Kay James, who is the head of the Office of Personnel Management is aware of it, and we have worked with some of the folks that are involved. I was pleased with the new Homeland Security law, which maintains the employee's right to organize and bargain collectively. I am also glad that the administration is following through with its commitment to consult with all stakeholders as it develops the Homeland Security's personnel system. Thus far this process seems to be going all right. I talked with the union presidents and trust that this is going to be an open and collaborative process that will yield a flexible personnel system that is fair to all employees. Further, I hope we can enact additional provisions to give all of our Federal employees the tools they need to do their jobs effectively. If you are confirmed, I expected that you will do everything in your power to ensure that the Department of Homeland Security's labor management relations apparatus is administered within the spirit of the law, and that unfair labor practices rulings are applied without prejudice throughout the government. I hope you take a very active role in improving labor management relations and that you aggressively pursue a program that would provide training to Federal employees on the benefits of consensus decisionmaking techniques for resolving workforce disputes. To begin this endeavor, I suggest that you conduct a thorough assessment of the current labor management relations environment and utilize the expertise of the new chief human capital officers to accomplish this goal. This is a major highlight of my legislation because it creates a chief human capital officer in 24 major departments and agencies. We have not had them. We have neglected the real important essential of government today, and that is people. I have observed Congress as a mayor and then as governor and as chairman of the National Governors Association, and also president of the National League of Cities. And I think it is atrocious that the Federal Government's workforce has not been given the kind of attention that is needed. The General Counsel of the FLRA, in my opinion, is a very important position. How well you do that job will have a large impact on whether we can develop effective labor/management partnerships in government today. The unions must feel that the process is open, that they have somebody in your position aggressively trying to make sure that a dialogue exists, and frankly by doing that you may eliminate the need for people to appeal. It is also important to make sure that employees and managers are treated fairly and consistently based on the guidelines of the Federal Labor Relations Statute. So I look forward to your testimony today to hear how you plan to apply your extensive private sector experience to the government and to learn what steps you have taken to prepare for this important position. I would now like to call on Senator Akaka to give him an opportunity to make his opening statement, and then we will open it up for your statement. OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR AKAKA Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. It is always a pleasure to work with you, especially to work with someone who I call a champion on human capital. I look forward to continuing to work with you on that. And it is a pleasure for me to be with you this morning and with Senator Durbin, as well. I want to add my welcome to Mr. Eide and your lovely and handsome family. The only thing I can say is you are really a fortunate man to have such a family. Mr. Eide. That I am. Senator Akaka. Just 2 days ago my friend from Ohio chaired a hearing with our House counterparts on the Federal workforce. I was unable to attend that meeting because Tuesday was the first day of a 3-day Energy Committee markup. That is the kind of problem we have here. We are members of other committees, and when we have important markups, we have to be at those meetings. But I wanted to be here today because I feel that the government's most important asset is its employees. Mr. Eide, I want to congratulate you for being nominated to serve as the General Counsel of the Federal Labor Relations Authority. The FLRA is charged with protecting the rights of Federal employees from unfair labor practices. Because of your prior relationships and your jobs in the private sector, there have been some concerns. Concerns have been raised by the American Federation of Government Employees and the National Treasury Employees Union about your long association with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The reason is they regard the Chamber as an organization that has opposed most labor initiatives. Mr. Chairman, I ask that letters from AFGE and NTEU be included in the record, as well as a letter from the Association of Administrative Law Judge's in support of Mr. Eide's nomination.\1\ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- \1\ The letters submitted by Senator Akaka appear in the Appendix on page 54. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Senator Voinovich. Without objection. Senator Akaka. The FLRA will face major challenges involving the creation of the labor management relations policy at the new Department of Homeland Security. The sheer number of employees within the Department and the ability of the Department to waive Chapter 71 of Title 5 relating to labor management relations undoubtedly will increase the workload at the FLRA. It may also pose unique legal and policy questions for the authority and for the General Counsel. I look forward to this hearing, Mr. Chairman, and I want to thank you for having it today. Thank you. Senator Voinovich. Thank you, Senator Akaka. Senator Durbin. OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR DURBIN Senator Durbin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I ask that my opening statement be made part of the record. In the interest of time, I have a Judiciary Committee hearing, and I will waive making a statement at this point. I hope I will have a chance to ask some questions. [The prepared statement of Senator Durbin follows:] PREPARED OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR DURBIN Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for calling this hearing. I would like to welcome Mr. Eide. Thank you for testifying this morning. The Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) serves as an independent, neutral third-party for resolving labor-management disputes in the Federal Government. The Office of the General Counsel is the FLRA's independent investigator and prosecutor. Mr. Eide, if confirmed for this position to which you have been nominated, you will have the important responsibilities of investigating all allegations of unfair labor practices filed and processing all representation petitions received; exercising final authority over the issuance and prosecution of all complaints; supervising and conducting elections concerning the exclusive recognition of labor organizations and the certification of the results of elections; conducting all hearings to resolve disputed issues in representation cases; preparing final decisions and orders in these cases; and directing and supervising all employees of the regional offices. I ask that letters submitted to the Committee in relation to this nominee be made part of the record. I look forward to hearing your testimony, Mr. Eide. Senator Voinovich. Thank you. Mr. Eide has filed responses to a biographical and professional questionnaire, answering pre-hearing questions submitted by the Committee, and has had his financial statements reviewed by the Office of Government Ethics. Without objection, this information will be made a part of the record with the exception of the financial data, which are on file and available for public inspection in the Committee offices.\1\ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- \1\ Biographical and professonal information for Mr. Eide appears in the Appendix on page 16. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mr. Eide, our Committee rules require that all witnesses at nomination hearings give their testimony under oath. If you would please stand. [Witness sworn.] Senator Voinovich. Now, I would like to hear from you. TESTIMONY OF PETER J. EIDE,\1\ TO BE GENERAL COUNSEL, FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY Mr. Eide. I have a few written comments, I would like to read that, and then answer your questions, if that is all right. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- \1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Eide appears in the Appendix on page 15. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Good morning, Mr. Chairman, and Members of the Committee. My name is Peter Eide. President Bush has nominated me for the position of General Counsel to the Federal Labor Relations Authority. I am truly honored and deeply appreciative and I would like to express my sincere gratitude to you for this opportunity to appear before you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Mr. Vice Chairman, for going into the introductions that I had planned to make now. My family members are behind me, sitting behind me. And you certainly stated their names and indicated who they were, so thank you for that. This is a momentous occasion for this family, and I thought it would be good if they could witness it firsthand. I would like to assure you that, if confirmed, I will enforce in a fair and consistent manner the Federal Service Labor Management Relations Statute, the decisions and regulations of the Federal Labor Relations Authority, and I will effectuate the statutes and regulations affecting all employers and employees, including especially those focused primarily on Federal Government employees. I am familiar with many of the statutes and regulations affecting employment in the Federal sector, having dealt with them directly or on behalf of the public and clients for nearly 28 years. As you know, the Federal statute that I will apply and enforce is modeled on the National Labor Relations Act, a statute I enforced as an employee of the National Labor Relations Board for over 7 years, and which I have dealt with directly on behalf of employers, clients, and the business community for over 20 years. Members of the Committee and your staff of the Governmental Affairs Committee know, probably too well, that one of the biggest challenges we face is activating the Department of Homeland Security. Mr. Chairman, I think your comments reflected that concern. I want to assure you that of everything I do, one of my highest priorities will be to make sure that activation is done smoothly and promptly so that the Department can carry out its mission to protect this country from terrorism and other serious threats. I look forward to applying my years of labor law and labor relations experience in this position to which I have been nominated. I also assure you that I will be at all times responsive to the Governmental Affairs Committee and to the entire Senate and the Congress, as well. Thank you for considering my nomination and I will gladly answer any questions that you have. Senator Voinovich. Mr. Eide, before we start our questioning, there are some standard questions that we have to ask all nominees. The first one, is there anything that you are aware of in your background which might present a conflict of interest with the duties of the office to which you have been nominated? Mr. Eide. No, sir. Senator Voinovich. Do you know of anything, personal or otherwise, that would in any way prevent you from fully and honorably discharging the responsibilities of the office to which you have been nominated? Mr. Eide. I know of nothing that would interfere with my job. Senator Voinovich. Do you agree to respond to any reasonable summons without reservation? Without reservation, to respond to any reasonable summons to appear and testify before any duly constituted committee of Congress if you are confirmed. Mr. Eide. Yes, Senator, absolutely. Senator Voinovich. We will start the first round of questions and we will limit those to 6 minutes. Mr. Eide, in March 1999, President Clinton introduced a proposal to protect whistleblowers who were fired for speaking out against health and safety hazards in the workplace. President Clinton had a proposal to protect whistleblowers who were fired for speaking out against health and standards in the workplace. In reactions to this proposed policy you said, the proposal would ``open the floodgates to meritless charges, plaintiff's lawyers are all too willing to sue an employer with no intention of getting a verdict, simply to blackmail the employer to force him to pay off the plaintiff.'' I am somewhat concerned that a past statement like this gives the impression that you might lack the objectivity necessary for the position of General Counsel. So I would like to ask you a two-part question. First of all, are these your personal feelings, or were you merely reflecting the sentiments of the Chamber of Commerce? And second, do you think that you can maintain the ability to remain neutral and apply the labor relations statute in a fair and equitable manner? Mr. Eide. I do not recall making that statement, nor will I deny making that statement. It is consistent with the Chamber's position regarding what has been called, what has been termed plaintiff's lawyers, and what the Chamber believes to be their overwillingness to file charges and lawsuits against employers. What I said, and I am not denying I made that statement, is consistent with the Chamber's concern about overactive plaintiff lawyers and too many lawsuits against employers. I said that as a representative of the Chamber, as a spokesperson for the Chamber. And I want to make sure that you understand that does not necessarily reflect my personal views. In fact, it does not reflect my personal views on that particular subject. The concern about whistleblowers, I think, is genuine and has to be kept foremost in everybody's mind because that is the way that these problems in the workplace, these health and safety issues especially, are brought to light and corrected at the earliest possible date and in the most efficient way possible. So I am not denying that I made the statement but that does not reflect my personal views. It does, I think, reflect the view of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce at that time. Senator Voinovich. The issue is do you believe that you can bring impartiality to the job that you have and not be skewed in favor of the employer? Mr. Eide. Absolutely. I would like to point out that for the first 7 years, over 7 years of my career, I worked for the National Labor Relations Board. And the overwhelming majority of the cases that I handled and investigated and made recommendations on were charges against employers. I think I did that job capably and did it well. And as a result of my efforts in investigating those charges, a number of complaints were issued and employers, as a result, settled the charges, settled the allegations, or were brought before Administrative Law Judge's and the entire labor board to have the issue resolved. I do not think it is accurate to say that what I said as a representative of the Chamber and spokesman for the Chamber reflects on my objectivity or ability to address issues in an objective manner. Senator Voinovich. Have you given any thought to initiatives to try and foster better labor management relationships? Mr. Eide. Yes, sir, I have. The authority, the OGC, Office of General Counsel has what I think is an elaborate program to encourage representatives of labor and representatives of management to get along, to air their disputes, to resolve their disputes before it becomes an issue in contract negotiations and they reach an impasse because of those disputes, to try to get those resolved. I consider it a pretty elaborate program. I do not know if it is effective. It seems to me it would be effective. And I am anxious to engage in whatever activities I can and have my staff at the Authority do likewise, to encourage resolution of disputes before they have to be litigated. Senator Voinovich. How would you determine whether or not the effort currently underway is a good one? Mr. Eide. How would I determine? Senator Voinovich. You are coming on the job and you have got this in place. How would you go about deciding whether or not the initiative in the Department was a good one, or whether it needed improvement? Mr. Eide. The Authority's initiative? Is that what you are talking about? Senator Voinovich. Yes. Mr. Eide. Obviously, I am going to have to talk to a lot of people, the staff of the OGC first and foremost, and then representatives of organized labor and management representatives and find out whether or not these programs and policies are working. If they are not working, then they need to be changed and fixed. And I would be anxious to do that to make sure that the whole system works. It is referred to as the FITE program and I think that despite its name it would help the management and union folks resolve their disputes before they are brought to bear on the actual negotiations. Senator Voinovich. Thank you. Senator Durbin. Senator Durbin. Senator Akaka has been kind enough to allow me to go first because of my other committee hearing, even though he was first to arrive. Mr. Eide, thank you very much for being here. A basic question, did you seek this job? Mr. Eide. Did I seek this job? I understood that there was an opening for the General Counsel at the Federal Labor Relations Authority, and I, after learning of that opening, asked the White House if they would consider me for the position. Senator Durbin. So you did? Mr. Eide. Yes. Senator Durbin. You did seek the job. I am curious as to why you did that? I think there are a lot of positions in the Federal Government where your credentials would be impeccable. This is one that, as the Chairman has noted, raises a lot of questions about why, with your background with the Chamber of Commerce you would want to take on a position which is described under law as being a neutral party in the settlement of disputes that arise between Federal agencies and unions on matters outlined in the Federal Service Labor Management Relations statute. In the past 12 years you have been very outspoken and very anti-union on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce. On issue after issue, statute after statute, you have questioned worker protections. You have supported the dilution of a variety of protections of workers. You opposed OSHA regulations on safety and health. You opposed provisions of the 1991 Civil Rights Act that provides compensatory damage remedies and jury trials for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. You advocated a policy that would exempt from employment discrimination laws for 18 months employers who hired former welfare recipients. You have consistently opposed increases in Federal minimum wages and other minimum wages. Can you understand why the labor unions are a little bit worried if you are going to be their champion? Mr. Eide. Yes, sir, I can. I can also say that those positions that I took were as a representative of the Chamber. And as you know, the Chamber of Commerce is composed solely of businesses and employers and business associations. And their concern was what impact those laws that were under consideration at the time, or those regulations, would have on them. My job, as spokesperson for the Chamber, was to state what the Chamber's concerns were and to effectively argue the Chamber's position. Senator Durbin. I understand that. I have been an attorney, too, and I know that you represent your client. But I am going to have to take you to the obvious question. I believe you are a man of principle. Are you saying then that you were stating positions which you did not personally agree with when you represented the Chamber of Commerce? Mr. Eide. I cannot say that applies to all of the issues that you raised. There were concerns that I personally had regarding some of the regulations that were proposed. The welfare reform statute is a good example. What we thought would be appropriate would be an exception for some employers for liability under various Federal discrimination laws, so that it would serve as an encouragement to hire people on welfare. As it turned out, in that economic age or time period, there was a shortage of employees nationwide and it was not necessary to add an inducement for employers to hire people off of welfare. Senator Durbin. I only have a limited time, maybe 2 minutes left here. I note in your biography that before law school, or perhaps at the same time as you were pursuing your legal education, you were a member of a public employees union, and I suppose a representative of that union, in the work that you were doing. What would you say is the reason for unions? Why do you believe that we have unions today? Mr. Eide. I think that unions can provide a mouthpiece for an employee, for all employees, an effective mouthpiece. In my case, that was a situation where you had a management that required formal notification of what employees rights were and constant reminders of what employee rights were that might not be able to be conveyed to management by individuals and could easily be conveyed through a spokesperson. And I was that spokesperson at that time. Senator Durbin. Mr. Eide, in a 1997 article appearing in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, you were quoted in reference to the Fair Labor Standards Act. You said as follows: ``the raison d'etre of unions is antagonism.'' That is a harsh statement. If I am a member of a union or representing people in a union and I hear that you want to be my advocate now and you believe that the reason unions exist is to antagonize an employer, I am not sure I am going to get a fair shake from you. What you have just stated was a union serves as a mouthpiece. If you had a little more time you might come up with a different word. I hope you will. But I hope you understand that on this side of the table, this is a curious nomination by the administration. As I said, I can think of a hundred jobs that would be perfect for someone from the Chamber of Commerce. I do not think this is one of them. Thank you. Senator Voinovich. Senator Akaka. Senator Akaka. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Eide, the General Counsel of the Federal Labor Relations Authority has broad prosecutorial discretion in determining whether to pursue allegations of unfair labor practices and operates, to a large extent, without review by the members of the Authority or any court. Refusal to pursue allegations of misconduct leaves the injured party without any legal recourse. Given this considerable responsibility, what factors will you use in deciding whether to take such an action? Mr. Eide. To prosecute a case? Senator Akaka. Correct. Mr. Eide. There are a whole lot of factors to consider, that must be considered. What exactly happened to the individual? What is the complaint? What is the likelihood of it being resolved through methods other than litigation? What remedies can be provided to the individual if it, in fact, occurred, if the individual did in fact suffer some sort of discrimination or adverse impact? What is the remedy that is involved and how will that be brought about? How can that be achieved through the system where the employee works? Those are a few of the considerations. I think that has to be just some of them. There have to be a number of other considerations that would go through my mind, as well. I cannot list them all right now, right offhand, but it is not something that is what you would call a slam dunk, by any means. It would have to be very deliberate and would require assessing a lot of facts, gathering and assessing a lot of facts in every single case. Senator Akaka. Legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security provided the new Department with great flexibility with its human resources management system. This includes the authority to waive or modify Chapter 71 of Title 5, which governs labor management relations. Such authority could have major implications on how labor management relations are handled and what matters, if any, may come before your office. Do you have any recommendations as to what modifications should be made to Chapter 71 as it applies to the Department of Homeland Security. Mr. Eide. I do not have such a recommendation at this time. I am sure that I will develop some over time, but I cannot articulate those at this point. I simply do not know. I know that there has to be some changes made. The Chairman's comments about human capital issues, and revising some issues in that area were intriguing because before I was a lawyer or a labor relations rep, I was a human resources manager and still am a member of the Society for Human Resources Management. I chose to follow my mother's footsteps rather than my father's footsteps. She was an human resource manager for many years. For some reason I took to that rather than my father's profession, pharmacy. But I am familiar with the fundamental tenets of human resource management and I really appreciate the comments that the Chairman made about revisions to human capital issues and working that side of the homeland security problem or activation that I referred to earlier. Senator Akaka. I want to thank you, Mr. Eide, for your response. I hope you will keep this Committee updated on your activities and also on any recommended changes you may be proposing. As has been indicated here, there are concerns about your experiences and some of your comments, but I wish you well on this nomination. Mr. Eide. Thank you. Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Senator Voinovich. Thank you Senator Akaka. Mr. Eide, I would like you to do a couple of things. First one is to ask you to share your philosophy on labor management's relationships, and how you envision your job responsibilities. And the second one would be what steps--maybe you ought to answer the latter question before the former. That is what steps have you taken thus far to prepare for this position? Mr. Eide. I have read a number of Authority cases. I have read large parts of the General Counsel's, former General Counsel's statements, guidance documents on labor relations and alternative dispute resolution. I have read the statute carefully several times. I have amassed a very small library of reference documents regarding Federal Sector Labor Relations. I have joined the ABA Section on Federal Sector Labor Law and become active in that group. I have become a member of the Society for Federal Labor Relations Professionals--I do not know if that is the correct name of the group--and attended their meetings. And I have tried my best to become active in issues that involve Federal Sector Labor Relations. I do not know what more I could have done. I held down a job in another area at the same time and was a single parent to one of the people sitting behind me. So I did what I could and I look forward to doing a whole lot more as the situation will permit. Once I no longer have to have two jobs and worry about two sectors, the public sector and private sector, I can focus on the public sector, Federal sector work. In answer to your other question, on my philosophy on labor management relationships, the quintessential labor management relationship, productive labor management relationship, was what I experienced when I was a labor management rep at Martin Marietta in Baltimore. There was a 2,000 person bargaining unit represented by the United Auto Workers. And the UAW had been there since the early 1940's or late 1930's, I believe. They had a very sophisticated relationship. And I got to witness firsthand how management could, working with the union, resolve disputes early and thoroughly effectively, and refine disputes that could not be resolved easily or quickly so that they could be resolved at the next higher level, which usually involved corporate representatives and national union representatives or international representatives of the union. I witnessed those bargaining sessions, as well, and saw again firsthand how a very sophisticated and effective collective bargaining relationship works. I appreciated the fact that the union was there, had been there for a long time and did have a great relationship with the company. The company appreciated that and they were able to do, I think, great things in their industry. As you know, that company no longer exists but has been merged with another large defense contractor. And I think they still have the same relationship. Senator Voinovich. I do not know the answer to this question. How many employees will you have? I know that you are in charge of seven regional offices. Do you know how many people you will actually be responsible for? Mr. Eide. Good question. I believe it is in the area of 90. It might be a few more or a few less, I am not sure. Senator Voinovich. Have you had any management experience, 90 people, in terms of organizational experience? You have got regional offices, you have got people. What kind of experience have you had in that regard? Mr. Eide. In setting up regional offices? Senator Voinovich. I am just talking about management experience generally. For example, the job that you have now, how many people are you responsible for? Prior to this, the jobs that you have had, how many people were you responsible for, in terms of management? Mr. Eide. The direct line management relationship was not there when I worked at Martin Marietta. It was a dotted line relationship. I was in a position to advise line managers and section managers and section directors on how to achieve their human resources and labor relations goals, and when necessary, effectively recommend action, disciplinary action if it was necessary, in that area. So it was not direct management relationship by any means, but it was certainly dotted line, and certainly involved in the management decisions and instrumental in what decisions were. Senator Voinovich. How about when you were with the FLRB? Did you have any management responsibilities there? Mr. Eide. You mean at the National Labor Relations Board? Senator Voinovich. Yes, the NLRB? Mr. Eide. Other than training employees, I was a senior examiner at the NLRB, and many new employees were assigned to work with me for varying lengths of time. My job was to train them and to supervise their daily activities, their daily work. Other than that, there was no direct management. Senator Voinovich. How about the Chamber? Mr. Eide. Again, other than my personal staff, there is no direct management. However, the Chamber is, I think, an unusual operation because there is--a good example is I recently conceived and produced and directed a webcast show involving several people from OSHA and individuals from various companies. My job was to coordinate all of the activities and have everybody at the Chamber do what they were supposed to do. The camera work, getting the web site ready, getting the information and the actual video presentation on the web site. Again, it was not direct management, it was getting people to do their jobs with respect to my particular interest and on a timely basis, and a thorough and competent basis. Again, it was a--I like to describe it as a dotted line or matrix-type of operation. And that was successful and it is on the web site now. It is a webcast on ergonomics, of all things, and it can be viewed by going to the Chamber's web site. Senator Voinovich. Is there anything else that you want to share with me this morning? Mr. Eide. No, I appreciate your having this hearing and considering the nomination and I stand ready to answer any questions that you may have. Senator Voinovich. We are going to adjourn the hearing and we are going to leave the record open until 5 o'clock in case there are other Members of the Committee who were not able to be here. I apologize, that is the way it is around the Senate. I have had a lot of these hearings, and sometimes I am the only one who is here. So we are lucky to have a couple of other Senators here. Mr. Eide. As you know, I am a lobbyist and I have seen umpteen hearings in both the House and the Senate. Senator Voinovich. Then you understand. I just want to explain to your family. It is an important hearing. It is just that Senators, at any given hour of the day we could probably be at three places and each of them is a legitimate use of our time. So again, I want to thank you very much, and thank the family for coming here today with you, and we look forward to seeing you again. As I say, we will leave the record open but I will recess the hearing [Whereupon, at 10:22 a.m., the Committee was adjourned.] A P P E N D I X ---------- [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.001 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.002 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.003 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.004 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.005 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.006 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.007 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.008 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.009 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.010 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.011 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.012 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.013 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.014 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.015 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.016 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.017 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.018 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.019 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.020 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.021 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.022 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.023 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.024 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.025 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.026 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.027 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.028 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.029 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.030 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.031 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.032 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.033 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.034 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.035 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.036 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.037 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.038 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.039 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.040 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.041 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.042 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.043 [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T8243.044