All but one of the collective-bargaining agreements covering employees at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are null and void. On August 8, the agency unilaterally terminated its agreements with five unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), to comply with an executive order President Trump handed down earlier this year.
“It was disappointing, but not unforeseen,” Justin Chen, former president of AFGE Local 1003, a union representing Texas-based EPA employees, told the Prospect in an interview.
On August 1, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a preliminary injunction that had halted the order, which strips workers at 21 federal agencies of their right to collective bargaining in the name of “national security.” The litigation is pending. EPA leadership has since seized the opportunity to end collective bargaining for its workers, but the agency went a step further by requiring prior approval for union-protected activities—on non-duty time. (The EPA already prohibits bargaining-unit employees from participating in such activities during work hours.)
According to an internal advisory obtained by the Prospect, the agency has resorted to citing U.S. Criminal Code as justification for prior authorization, specifically referencing “the representational conflicts of interest statute.” The statute is designed to prevent conflicts of interest emerging from outside employment, whether paid or unpaid, but the EPA appears to be using it to restrict federal workers from participating in union-protected activities. In the agency’s plane of reality, building support for improved working conditions without permission could be a criminal offense. Describing the agency’s conduct, Chen said “it’s 100 percent union-busting.”
Chen is president of AFGE Council 238, a federation of more than a dozen local unions representing some 8,000 EPA employees across the country. AFGE swiftly sued to block the implementation of Trump’s executive order, leading a coalition of unions representing federal workers at the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Health and Human Services. In a statement, AFGE noted that the Office of Personnel Management’s own guidance directs agencies to refrain from terminating collective-bargaining agreements “until the conclusion of litigation.”
“We are working with our general counsel, as well as outside counsel, and fighting back where we can,” Chen told the Prospect. “This is a war on all fronts.”
For its part, AFGE rejects the idea that the EPA and other federal agencies have the authority to suppress organizing and quell dissent. The union continues to recognize its collective-bargaining agreement with the agency. To the extent that potential contract violations emerge, AFGE intends to keep filing unfair labor practice (ULP) complaints, but any formal review of such complaints remains on hold due to the pending litigation. The EPA has also instructed bargaining-unit employees to file grievances internally. Meanwhile, the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA), an independent agency responsible for administering federal labor law, has not had a Senate-confirmed general counsel since 2017; hundreds of ULP cases involving federal employees, including those at the EPA, remain in limbo. (Trump also fired FLRA chair Susan Tsui Grundmann in February.)
President Biden may have reversed the union-busting executive orders Trump handed down in his first term, but Congress has yet to codify stronger protections for federal workers represented by unions. In other words, the reversals came in the form of executive orders, not statute, and Biden stopped short of throwing his weight behind reform bills that have been percolating for years. Consequently, agency management has retained far greater power over federal employees than private-sector counterparts. Indeed, federal workers literally sign away their right to strike as a condition of employment. According to Chen, EPA management appears to be “willing to comply” with the Trump administration’s agenda “for fear of their own jobs.” But this is hardly the first time the EPA has engaged in union busting.
“They’ve done so before, even under the prior administration,” Chen told the Prospect. “The Biden administration did try to give us some leeway in negotiating our contracts, but as the term went on, it actually tightened more and more.”
At the same time, Chen said he believes “a lot of things that are happening right now are unprecedented.” AFGE first advised members to avoid having labor-related communications on work devices during Trump’s first term, anticipating that union-protected activities would be moved to off-duty periods. The EPA also recently informed bargaining-unit employees they “are no longer entitled” to Weingarten rights.
“You can only do so much to prepare for something that you’ve never really seen before,” he told the Prospect. “Everyone’s got a plan until they get punched in the face.”
Despite this, Chen emphasized that the Trump administration is “coming for everybody in the labor movement.” In the case of the EPA, rolling back environmental protections “is going to be a problem for everybody,” he said. “The only way forward is together.”