FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JUNE 27, 2006
CONTACT: RON AULT, PRESIDENT AFL-CIO METAL TRADES DEPARTMENT (202) 974-8030
Appeals Court Affirms Injunction on DHS Personnel Rules
Decision Upholds Right to Collective Bargaining;
Slaps DHS Power Grab
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals found the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) guilty of unlawfully attempting “to reserve to itself the right to unilaterally abrogate lawfully negotiated and executed agreements” in a decision issued on June 27, 2006.
The court continued an injunction issued by District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer last summer against provisions of personnel rules that would empower DHS management to ignore collective bargaining agreements, restrict union negotiations to a narrow range of personnel matters and dictate to the Federal Labor Relations Authority—an independent agency— how it would handle cases brought on behalf of DHS employees.
Metal Trades Department President Ron Ault described the court’s findings as “eminently fair, thoughtful and balanced. Any reasonable person would come to the same conclusions.”
Ault criticized the Bush Administration for stubbornly pressing the issue in the face of the lower court’s findings.
“Shame on the government for wasting taxpayer money and forcing us to fight this battle in the courts over principles that are so clear and fundamental to our democracy,” he said.
The decision shreds the Bush Administration’s efforts to neuter union representation for some 175,000 union-represented DHS employees contained in personnel rules issued in February 2005 under the Homeland Security Act. It parallels the findings of Judge Emmet Sullivan on February 27, 2006 in a suit by a group of unions representing federal workers against the National Security Personnel System that the Pentagon tried to impose on 750,000 Defense Department Workers.
Unanimously rendered by Justices A Raymond Randolph, Thomas Griffith and Senior Justice Harry Edwards, the June 27th decision also found that DHS final rules “effectively eliminate meaningful bargaining over fundamental working conditions” contrary to congressional instructions. Furthermore, the court found, DHS exceeded its authority by attempting to “conscript” the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) into the DHS Human Resources system. The court said DHS tried to dictate to the FLRA standards of review that would apply to DHS cases. “Nothing in the Homeland Security Act allows DHS to disturb the operations of FLRA,” the court declared.
The court demurred on a decision about the role of the Merit System Protection Board under DHS rules, declaring that issue “not ripe” for review at this time.
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Metal Trades Department, AFL-CiO • 815 16th Street, NW •Washington, DC 20006
Phone: 202-508-3705 • Fax: 202-508-3706 • email: metaltradesweb@gmail.com
