Executive Order 10988 was issued by President John F. Kennedy in 1962 and recognizes the rights of federal employees to bargain with management. It established a broad government-wide labor relations policy for the first time. With respect to official time for union representatives, it required that, whenever practicable, union representatives be on official time when consulting or otherwise meeting with management representatives.
Agencies had discretion to determine the amount of official time union representatives would receive. Agencies could require that negotiations be conducted during the non-duty hours of the union representatives. In this regard, the framers of the Order wanted management to be able to require that employee representatives negotiate on their own time if the time required for negotiations became burdensome. No internal union business could be conducted on duty time.
