102
OTMConnor, J., dissenting
the general duty to bargain to include only a duty to "meet and negotiate in good faith for the purposes of arriving at a collective bargaining agreement," § 7114(a)(4) (emphasis added), and obligated agencies to negotiate "with a sincere resolve to reach a collective bargaining agreement," § 7114(b)(1) (emphasis added); see also § 7114(b)(5) (requiring parties "to take such steps as are necessary to implement such agreement"). The term "arrive" is commonly understood to mean "to reach a destination" or "to gain or achieve an end." See Webster's Third New International Dictionary 121 (1976). Thus, by its terms, the Federal Labor Statute requires an agency to "meet and negotiate in good faith" with unions only "for the purposes of" achieving an end: a comprehensive collective bargaining agreement. See also § 7103(a)(8) (defining "collective bargaining agreement" as "an agreement" reached through collective bargaining); § 7103(a)(12) (defining "collective bargaining," in part, as "to reach [an] agreement with respect to the conditions of employment").
The Court suggests that, because a midterm bargaining agreement is an end agreement of negotiation, the duty to bargain may encompass midterm agreements as well. See ante, at 93. As the word "midterm" suggests, however, such agreements are only a "midpoint" in the term of the underlying collective bargaining agreement. Because such agreements do not stand alone but relate back to the primary collective bargaining agreement, a midterm agreement is most appropriately regarded as a modification of, or a supplement to, the primary agreement reached pursuant to the Federal Labor Statute. See, e. g., 29 U. S. C. § 158(d) (describing midterm bargaining agreements in private sector as "modification[s]" to the primary agreement). The Federal Labor Statute expresses no general duty on the part of agencies to negotiate modifications or supplements to an existing collective bargaining agreement. With respect to modifications and supplements, the Statute requires only that agen-
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