Photo Credit: Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty Images
Can your employer cancel your union’s right to bargain by issuing a press release?
On March 7 the Department of Homeland Security announced plans “ending collective bargaining” for TSA’s transportation screening officers by issuing a press release.
Could any employer, public or private, do the same thing? Surely it would be illegal. But with both the Federal Labor Relations Authority and the National Labor Relations Board lacking a quorum due to Trump administration firing of their chairs – currently tied up in the courts — it is not clear what legal recourse there could be.
The AFGE, which represents the TSA employees, is suing the Trump administration. AFGE president Everett Kelly says, “This attack on our members is not just an attack on AFGE or transportation security officers. It’s an assault on the rights of every American worker. Tearing up a legally negotiated union contract is unconstitutional.”
Meanwhile, in a March 12 memo the Trump administration has ordered agencies to ignore any provisions in their collective bargaining agreements with federal unions that would impede reductions in force (RIFs), as agencies take steps toward implementing their initial RIF plans.