Unions Stake Positions on New Agency

Federal unions have said that in the drive to create a new Homeland Security Department, political leaders should take the opportunity to address issues in many of the agencies and sub-agencies that would be consolidated. For example, the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents some 12,000 U.S. Customs Service employees, repeated its call for additional staffing at the agency, where employees are now “stretched beyond the limit.” And the American Federation of Government Employees called for an end to privatization targets and personnel ceilings and a cooperative labor-management relationship. Administration officials recently met with unions about the proposed reorganization but so far few details have emerged on the White House’s intent to give the new agency greater control over personnel policies than currently exists in the agencies that would be absorbed.