Among the four unions is the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest representing EPA employees. Contracts with the National Association of Government Employees, Engineers and Scientists of California, and the National Association of Independent Labor were also given the axe.
Though only being carried out on Friday, the move was in accordance with an executive order signed by President Donald Trump back in March banning collective bargaining for certain government employees on national security grounds.
“EPA is working to diligently implement President Trump’s Executive Orders with respect to AFGE, including ‘Exclusions from Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs,’ in compliance with the law,” an EPA spokesperson told Politico in a statement.
Bob Coomber, EPA’s senior labor adviser, said the contracts were terminated “to prevent irreparable harm to national security.”
AFGE Council 238 President Justin Chen denounced the termination as “unlawful and authoritarian,” saying it represents “an assault on our democracy, the rule of law, and the lives of working people in America.”
EPA STAFFERS WHO SIGNED LETTER OF DISSENT AGAINST TRUMP ADMINISTRATION PLACED ON LEAVE
“When you strip the rights of EPA workers, you weaken the EPA’s ability to do its job and ensure Americans can drink clean water and breathe clean air — and that’s exactly what Trump, [EPA Administrator Lee] Zeldin, and their billionaire supporters want,” he added.
AFGE previously launched a lawsuit against Trump’s executive order targeting collective bargaining, with a district court temporarily blocking its enforcement. Following an appeal from the Trump administration, the 9th Circuit Court stayed that ruling, paving the way for the president to end collective bargaining at the EPA, the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, and a slew of other government agencies.
