From what I can gather, the National Guard members can conduct negotiations as a union even while on federal active duty as long as it is related to a state deployment. I suspect that the union will not be able to negotiate in relation to any duties performed at a federal level.

The solution to this issue is to eliminate or at least reduce the state deployments. The reservists don't have time to conduct union organizing activities when there is a real emergency occurring such as an earthquake, fire, or weather event. However, the months-long deployments for what isn't an emergency does hit the finances and family life of the reservists.

The Guard is in a Title 10 status only for annual training (the two weeks a year), when mobilized by Presidential orders, or when nationalized (as in the Arkansas desegregation crises in 1957). During inactive duty training (the weekend a month) and state mobilization (natural emergencies or GQP governors sending the guard to the Texas border to hold back the brown-skinned horde ), the Guard is under Title 32.

Most of the time, a National Guard unit or service member is part of the State militia with the State's Governor as the commander-in-chief. Sometimes, that same National Guard unit or service member is part of the reserve forces of the United States with the President as the commander-in chief. Even when the National Guard unit or soldier is part of the State militia, the United States is paying the bulk of the tab.

The Active force, the federal reserve forces, and the National Guard all wear the same uniform. They all say "U.S. Army, U. S. Marines" etc. Except for unit patches for Army units, you cannot tell from the uniform whether a service member is in the active force, the federal reserve forces, or the National Guard.

To a large extent, the distinction between Title 10 and Title 32 status it is what lawyers call a legal fiction.

When I lived in Austin I was about 2 miles away from Camp Mabry. When I moved to Irving I was about 2 miles from an armory there, and now that I"m in Bryan I'm only about four blocks away from the armory here.

The average Guard member would be unable to tell you on any given occasion whether they are in Title 10 or Title 32 status. The distinction is important mainly to military lawyers.