The president of the National Treasury Employees Union,
which represents about 14,000 CBP employees, said Bashman’s
nomination was an opportunity to bring on needed change to
the “troubled CBP workplace.”
CBP leadership has largely “turned a deaf ear not only to
the ideas of its workforce, but to their needs in terms of
resources, staffing and training as well” said NTEU
president Colleen M. Kelly.
She expressed hope that Bashman’s law enforcement service
might increase the chance of extending law enforcement
officer status to CBP officers, and took the opportunity
ask the new commissioner to “rethink the direction” the
agency is heading regarding scheduling, work assignments
and overtime.
However, Bashman is coming from a non-unionized background
and it is unclear how sympathetic he’ll be to negotiating
management decisions, as recent appointments from the Secret
Service to head the Transportation Security Administration
and the Federal Air Marshall Service have been seen to strain
labor-management relations.
