90
Opinion of the Court
162, 166 (1987) (IRS II). Accepting the D. C. Circuit's analysis, the Authority held:
"[T]he duty to bargain in good faith imposed by the Statute requires an agency to bargain during the term of a collective bargaining agreement on negotiable union-initiated proposals concerning matters which are not addressed in the [basic] agreement and were not clearly and unmistakably waived by the union during negotiation of the agreement." Id., at 167.
The Fourth Circuit has taken a different view of the matter. It has held that "union-initiated midterm bargaining is not required by the statute and would undermine the congressional policies underlying the statute." Social Security Administration v. FLRA, 956 F. 2d 1280, 1281 (1992) (SSA). Nor, in its view, may the basic labor contract itself impose a midterm bargaining duty upon the parties. Department of Energy v. FLRA, 106 F. 3d 1158, 1163 (1997) (holding unlawful a midterm bargaining clause that the Federal Service Impasses Panel had imposed upon the parties' basic labor contract).
In the present suit, the National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 1309 (Union), representing employees of the United States Geological Survey, a subagency of the Department of the Interior (Agency), proposed including in the basic labor contract a midterm bargaining provision that said:
"The Union may request and the Employer will be obliged to negotiate [midterm] on any negotiable matters not covered by the provisions of this [basic] agreement." Department of Interior, 52 F. L. R. A. 475, 476 (1996).
The Agency, relying on the Fourth Circuit's view that the Statute prohibits such a provision, refused to accept, or to bargain about, the proposed clause. The Authority, reiterating its own (and the D. C. Circuit's) contrary view, held that the Agency's refusal to bargain amounted to an unfair labor practice. Id., at 479-481. The Statute itself, said the Au-
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