Unions fight DHS’ attempt to move forward with personnel rules

Union officials contend that the Homeland Security Department's request to go forward with portions of a labor relations plan that was ruled illegal is inappropriate.

The National Treasury Employees Union, along with four partnering unions, is planning to file a response to DHS' request to narrow a court injunction, union officials said. The injunction halts implementation of the entire labor relations portion of the department's new personnel regulations.

This is the latest move in a back-and-forth legal dispute over the proposed labor relations regulations. In January, DHS officials unveiled their new personnel plan, and soon after, the unions filed a lawsuit in an attempt to block it.

On Aug. 12, Judge Rosemary Collyer of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that DHS' labor relations plan was illegal, in large part because it failed to provide binding contracts for employees by giving the department power to override negotiations at any time. The ruling came three days before DHS had scheduled to put its rules into effect.

Then, in response to an invitation from Collyer to do so, on Aug. 26 DHS submitted its new proposal to her, a plan to implement the parts of the labor relations plan that were not ruled illegal.

For one, DHS asked Collyer to allow the establishment of the Homeland Security Labor Relations Board, and to allow the Federal Labor Relations Authority to perform some supervisory functions laid out in the proposed rules, such as conducting elections to determine which unions will represent employees.

NTEU is arguing that all portions of the regulations are "inextricably intertwined."

"We don't see how DHS can move forward with a scheme that was chopped full of holes," NTEU president Colleen Kelley said in a press conference Friday.

Kelley said NTEU will argue that DHS' new proposal still does not allow for adequate collective bargaining.

"DHS goes too far in its claim that it can remove issues from the bargaining table before, during, or after" bargaining commences. "Once again, the department seems to be missing the whole point of what a bargaining process is."

Additionally, Kelley said the union will argue that DHS failed in its obligation to collaborate with unions and provide notification to Congress in crafting their newest proposal.

On Wednesday, DHS announced it is pushing back the first phase of the pay portion of the personnel regulations for one year. The lawsuit does not address the pay portion, which seeks to replace the General Schedule with a pay-for-performance system, and Kelley said she does not think the department's decision to delay it is related to the lawsuit.