The Professional Services Council has submitted to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services its feedback on a request for information on the potential inclusion of a labor harmony clause in future contracts for contact center operations.
PSC said in a letter dated Tuesday it believes the inclusion of a labor harmony agreement “would likely result in requests for employment conditions that would make it difficult for any contractor to fulfill the stated performance goals of the CCO contract.”
According to the council, such agreements seek to prevent the risk of boycott, work stoppage or picketing that could interfere with the contractor’s operations and are common in shipping and construction contracts.
PSC noted that CMS would face difficulties in assessing labor harmony clauses as part of the process for evaluating proposals “because each has a different cost and technical impact to the contract.”
The inclusion of such clauses in CCO contracts would result in unnecessary government interference with contractual agreements in the private sector, impose cost on employees who may not receive any benefit, discriminate against vendors based on labor affiliation and may impact small businesses.
“In light of the concerns outlined in this letter, PSC respectfully submits that a mandatory labor harmony clause would not benefit CMS and would directly contradict its interests due to the unique requirements of CCO work,” Krista Sweet, vice president of civilian agencies at PSC, wrote in the letter to CMS.
“If CMS wants to ensure greater pay and benefits for CCO workers, it can leverage the power of the federal government to directly increase the wage determination for these jobs, a goal which PSC strongly supports,” she added.
