Lawmakers call on Bush to revoke ban on unions at Justice

A bipartisan group of lawmakers called on President Bush Wednesday to revoke an executive order excluding certain Justice Department offices from union representation. In a Feb. 6 letter, eight members of the House, including Reps. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Connie Morella, R-Md., expressed their "strong disagreement" with Bush's decision last month to deny union representation to more than 500 employees at Justice for national security reasons. "To deny a group of American citizens-in this case citizens in service to our government and the pursuit of justice-such a fundamental human right is a serious action that should only be taken under the most extreme circumstances," the letter said. The executive order affects federal employees in the National Central Bureau of Interpol, Justice's criminal division, the National Drug Intelligence Center, the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review and the 93 U.S. attorneys' offices across the country. The offices included in the order are responsible for carrying out intelligence and investigative activities related to national security. The order was issued on the same day the Federal Labor Relations Authority held a hearing in Florida on a petition filed by Justice employees asking for a vote on union representation. The timing of the order appeared "more than coincidental," the letter said. The New York Times reported last month that White House officials said the executive order was necessary to prevent union contracts from restricting, through strikes or other means, the ability of Justice agencies to do their work. But Title 5, Sec. 7311 and Title 18, Sec. 1918 of the U.S. Code already prohibit federal employees from participating in strikes against the government.

The lawmakers said they were unaware of any suggestion over the past 20 years that the union membership in the Justice offices threatened national security. "We all agree that protecting national security is critically important," the letter said. "However, using national security as a guise ultimately cheapens the very thing we are fighting to protect."

Hoyer said he was "extremely concerned" that the president would deny union representation to a group of federal employees without adequately explaining why. "It is a dangerous proposition to invoke national security when circumventing fundamental rights of citizens, and the president should only cry wolf when it is truly necessary."

In addition to Hoyer and Morella, Reps. John Conyers, D-Mich.; James Moran, D-Va.; Danny Davis, D-Ill.; Albert Wynn, D-Md.; Chris Smith, R-N.J.; and Eleanor Holmes Norton, Del-D.C., also signed the letter to Bush.