The VA has stated that it will save $45 million a year in official time and other costs that had been required under now-canceled contracts. Image: Marcus E Jones / Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffA newly introduced Senate bill would override President Trump’s executive orders to disavow existing labor-management contracts and end union representation rights for the majority of federal employees.
S-2837, backed by all Democrats there and by one Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, is a counterpart to a House measure, HR-2550, which has a majority of co-sponsors there and is just two signatories shy of the number needed to force a vote there regardless of GOP leadership.
“While federal employee unions do not negotiate pay or benefits, collective bargaining agreements do protect federal employees from retaliation, discrimination, and illegal firings, while promoting resources for whistleblowers and veterans,” Senate sponsors said in a statement.
The bill’s introduction comes as the issue remains under dispute in several arenas.
On Capitol Hill, the House-passed DoD authorization bill would maintain previous union representation at that department, which accounts for the majority of affected employees. The full Senate has not yet voted on its version of that bill, which does not contain a similar ban; it may instead go straight to a conference with the House, where that difference among many others is to be resolved.
The DoD bill is considered a “must-pass” and therefore often is used as a vehicle for provisions that a White House might not otherwise accept. Banning enforcement at DoD would in turn set a precedent for a broader effort applying to all agencies affected either by the original order or a more recent one expanding its scope.
Federal agencies meanwhile continue to carry out the order and federal unions continue to contest it in court. Most recently, the AFGE and AFSCME unions filed suit against the U.S. Agency for Global Media and its Voice of America. Injunctions in two separate broader cases that had blocked enforcement of the original order have since been lifted, although those cases remain pending before federal district courts.
The AFGE meanwhile has filed a series of grievances against the VA’s cancellation of its representation rights, while the department has responded that it will save $45 million a year in official time and other costs that had been required under now-canceled contracts.
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