The parties jointly filed a request for assistance with the Federal Service Impasses Panel (FSIP) to consider a negotiation impasse under 5 U.S.C. sec. 7119, the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute.

The parties disagree on whether the use of tobacco products should be entirely prohibited on the Employer’s premises.  The union seeks to have two outdoor areas designated as smoking areas, away from where any nonsmokers have to be.  Executive Order 13058 bans smoking “in all interior space owned, rented, or leased by the executive branch of the Federal Government, and in any outdoor areas under executive branch control in front of air intake ducts.”  The panel ordered the adoption of the union’s proposal to resolve the impasse, noting that “there has never been a single documented complaint of exposure to ETS since the facility came into compliance with the Executive Order.”

AFL-CIO, 2008 FSIP LEXIS 3 (2008).