EPA’s decision to void its union contracts has further agitated the agency’s labor groups who been battling the Trump administration.
On Friday, EPA told union leaders that it had terminated their collective bargaining agreements “to prevent irreparable harm to national security,” according to an email viewed by POLITICO’s E&E News. The move, based on an executive order by President Donald Trump and a subsequent appeals court decision to lift an injunction against that order, is the latest blow against unions at the agency, which have been protesting layoffs of employees and shuttering of various program offices.
Union officials see the strike on their contracts as a push to silence dissent against the administration.
“Anyone with half a brain knows EPA is not a national security agency,” said Nicole Cantello, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 704, which represents EPA Region 5 employees.
