BLM says HQ union chapter lacks valid bargaining agreement

By Scott Streater | 02/04/2025 01:51 PM EST

In an email to POLITICO’s E&E News, the agency said the Biden Interior Department made that decision five days before President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Bureau of Land Management sign

The Bureau of Land Management said the collective bargaining agreement for the National Treasury Employees Union chapter at BLM headquarters is not valid. Francis Chung/POLITICO's E&E News

A simmering battle between the Trump administration and a union representing nearly 300 Bureau of Land Management headquarters staffers is heating up.

BLM said Monday it doesn’t recognize as valid the collective bargaining agreement the National Treasury Employees Union headquarters chapter finalized with the bureau, meaning working conditions covering telework, remote work and other issues in the agreement are not in effect.

In an email sent to POLITICO’s E&E News on Monday, the agency said the Biden administration’s Interior Department made that decision five days before President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

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BLM’s emailed statement says Interior Office of Human Capital Director Jennifer Ackerman “exercised the express delegation of authority” she had to disapprove the collective bargaining agreement that had been submitted for a mandatory Agency Head Review.

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