The Department of Health and Human Services moved to revoke recognition of labor unions representing staff at several agencies, arguing the step would “remove unnecessary obstacles to mission-critical work.”
The move affects several offices represented by the National Treasury Employees Union; the American Federation of Government Employees; the National Alliance of Postal and Federal Employees; and the United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, The Hill reported Friday.
“This action ensures that HHS resources and personnel are fully focused on safeguarding the health and security of the American people,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told The Hill. “By implementing President [Donald] Trump’s Executive Order 14251, HHS is removing unnecessary obstacles to mission-critical work and space previously used for union activities.
“This change strengthens our ability to respond rapidly to public health threats, advance national security, and deliver results for the American taxpayer.”
The Hill reported Friday’s move will impact, among other areas within HHS, the Office of the Secretary, Office of the General Counsel, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the National Institutes of Health, the Office of Refugee Resettlement, and the Administration for Children and Families.
The move came after HHS this week gave permanent termination notices to 600 CDC employees in the wake of a recent court decision that protected some CDC employees from layoffs but not others.
“This administration’s illegal and immoral assault on federal workers and their labor unions is punishing hundreds of thousands of dedicated public servants who serve our veterans, ensure the safety of the food we eat and the air we breathe, and now those who protect our public health,” American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley said in a statement.
“Tearing up our contracts is a disservice to every American who benefits from the programs and services our members deliver. But let me be clear: Our union isn’t going anywhere.”
Trump in March signed an executive order that ended collective bargaining for wide swaths of federal employees, as part of his campaign to reshape the federal government’s workforce. The White House in a fact sheet said the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 gave Trump the authority to halt collective bargaining at agencies with national security missions. It excluded law enforcement.
Earlier this month, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rescinded a district court injunction blocking the Trump administration’s effort to strip hundreds of thousands of workers from engaging in union bargaining with federal agencies. The 9th Circuit ruled that Trump’s executive order on its face “does not express any retaliatory animus,” and it agreed with the Trump administration that the president “would have taken the same action even in the absence of the protected conduct.”
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