Federal Employees v. Department of Interior, 526 U.S. 86, 25 (1999)

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Cite as: 526 U. S. 86 (1999)

Opinion of the Court

Inc., 467 U. S. 837 (1984)whether, when, where, and what sort of midterm bargaining is required. The Statute's delegation of rulemaking, adjudicatory, and policymaking powers to the Authority supports this conclusion. See 5 U. S. C. § 7105(a)(1) ("Authority shall provide leadership in establishing policies and guidance"); § 7105(a)(2)(E) (Authority "re-solves issues relating to the duty to bargain in good faith"); § 7117(c) (Authority resolves disputes about whether the duty to bargain in good faith extends to a particular matter); accord, American Federation of Govt. Employees, Local 2986, AFL-CIO v. FLRA, 775 F. 2d 1022, 1027 (CA9 1985); American Federation of Govt. Employees, AFL-CIO, Council of Soc. Sec. Dist. Office Locals, San Francisco Region v. FLRA, 716 F. 2d 47, 50 (CADC 1983). This conclusion is also supported by precedent recognizing the similarity of the Authority's public-sector and the National Labor Relations Board's private-sector roles. As we have recognized, the Authority's function is "to develop specialized expertise in its field of labor relations and to use that expertise to give content to the principles and goals set forth in the Act," and it "is entitled to considerable deference when it exercises its 'special function of applying the general provisions of the Act to the complexities' of federal labor relations." Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms v. FLRA, 464 U. S. 89, 97 (1983) (quoting NLRB v. Erie Resistor Corp., 373 U. S. 221, 236 (1963)).

We conclude that Congress "left" the matters of whether, when, and where midterm bargaining is required "to be resolved by the agency charged with the administration of the statute in light of everyday realities." Chevron, supra, at 865-866.

III

The specific question before us is whether an agency must bargain endterm about including in the basic labor contract a clause that would require certain forms of midterm bar-

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