Judge pauses Homeland Security's move to nix TSA officers' union contract
A federal judge on Monday paused the Department of Homeland Security's effort to end the collective bargaining agreement covering tens of thousands of transportation security officers at airports.
It's the latest loss in court for the Trump administration's drive to reshape the federal workforce.
US Senior District Judge Marsha Pechman of the Western District of Washington in Seattle issued a preliminary injunction, saying that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's justification for terminating the union contract with the American Federation of Government Employees in March was 'threadbare' and exposed 'the retaliatory nature of the decision.'
'The Noem Determination appears to have been undertaken to punish AFGE and its members because AFGE has chosen to push back against the Trump Administration's attacks to federal employment in the courts,' wrote Pechman, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, in her order.
Noem's decision is at odds with more than a decade of agency belief that collective bargaining benefits the officers, the Transportation Security Administration and the public, Pechman wrote. She ordered DHS to notify officers in the union that the contract and rights are in effect, including the right to have their union dues deducted from their pay.
When DHS originally announced it was rescinding the contract, the agency told employees that the move would allow officers to 'to operate with greater flexibility and responsiveness, ensuring the highest level of security and efficiency in protecting the American public.' DHS told CNN at the time that 'we invite the union to join all Americans and TSA employees in celebrating renewed efficiency, greater safety and shorter airport security wait times thanks to this action.'
In separate cases, AFGE and the National Treasury Employees Union are each battling Trump's executive order to end collective bargaining with unions covering hundreds of thousands of federal workers in multiple agencies. In April, a federal judge in the District of Columbia issued a preliminary injunction in the case brought by the NTEU.
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