ABSTRACT
This chapter chronicles developments in labor relations practices in the federal sector for the period 2001-2005. Of particular interest is the design of the new personnel systems for the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and Defense (DoD). President George W. Bush restrictive approach to collective bargaining in the federal government gained additional impetus subsequent to the September, attacks and the surfacing of a proposal to create a DHS. President Bill Clinton's labor-management relations strategy relied heavily on high-performance work system theory for its theoretical justification and as such stands in stark contrast to the Bush administration's approach. Although there is ample theoretical support for Bush's management strategy, those theories do not preclude union involvement in its execution. The Bush labor-management relations reforms can be interpreted through either a political or a managerial lens. President Bush's management reform program was presented in 2001 in the form of a report entitled "The President's Management Agenda".
