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All but one of the collective-bargaining agreements covering employees at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are null and void. On August 8, the agency unilaterally terminated its agreements with five unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), to comply with an executive order President Trump handed down earlier this year.
“It was disappointing, but not unforeseen,” Justin Chen, president of AFGE Local 1003, a union representing Texas-based EPA employees, told the Prospect in an interview.
On August 1, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a preliminary injunction that had halted the order, which strips workers at 21 federal agencies of their right to collective bargaining in the name of “national security.” The litigation is pending. EPA leadership has since seized the opportunity to end collective bargaining for its workers, but the agency went a step further by requiring prior approval for union-protected activities—on non-duty time. (The EPA already prohibits bargaining-unit employees from participating in such activities during work hours.)
According to an internal advisory obtained by the Prospect, the agency has resorted to citing U.S. Criminal Code as justification for prior authorization, specifically referencing “the representational conflicts of interest statute.” The statute is designed to prevent conflicts of interest emerging from outside employment, whether paid or unpaid, but the EPA appears to be using it to restrict federal workers from participating in union-protected activities. In the agency’s plane of reality, building support for improved working conditions without permission could be a criminal offense. Describing the agency’s conduct, Chen said “it’s 100 percent union-busting.”
Chen is also president of AFGE Council 238, a federation of more than a dozen local unions representing some 8,000 EPA employees across the country. AFGE swiftly sued to block the implementation of Trump’s executive order, leading a coalition of unions representing federal workers at the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Health and Human Services. In a statement, AFGE noted that the Office of Personnel Management’s own guidance directs agencies to refrain from terminating collective-bargaining agreements “until the conclusion of litigation.”
“We are working with our general counsel, as well as outside counsel, and fighting back where we can,” Chen told the Prospect. “This is a war on all fronts.” |
