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Washington, D.C.—A representation election to choose a single collective bargaining representative for employees of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will be conducted by mail ballot beginning on May 9. The schedule was set today by the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA), which will oversee the election.

National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Colleen M. Kelley again expressed her determination that NTEU—which already represents a majority of CBP employees—will prevail in the springtime election.

“NTEU has aggressively and successfully represented Customs Service employees for more than 30 years,” Kelley said. “Our experience in law enforcement and homeland security issues is second to none and our determination and aggressiveness in representing CBP employees in every venue available to us is well known.”

Among the many fights NTEU is leading for CBP employees is the federal suit challenging major portions of the proposed personnel regulations for Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees. As lead counsel NTEU has won two court victories imposing and sustaining an injunction against the implementation of the regulations. NTEU is poised to defend these decisions early next month in response to an agency appeal of the earlier decisions.

Over the past few months NTEU has achieved a number of victories on behalf of CBP employees including:

• An arbitrator’s decision that the CBP violated the NTEU contract and federal law when it implemented new grooming standards;

• An arbitrator’s decision declaring a unilaterally implemented awards program, which CBP put in place over a fully negotiated program, illegal;

• A settlement agreement reinstituting the NTEU-negotiated Foreign Language Proficiency Award Program (FLAP);

• An arbitrator’s decision requiring CBP to negotiate with NTEU over an expeditious investigation when an employee’s firearm is removed; and

• A negotiated agreement providing compensatory time to CBP employees who travel outside of normal business hours.

Rules and procedures for the election were established by the FLRA today. On May 9, the FLRA will mail ballots to the home address of each eligible CBP employee on the rolls of the agency as of this Feb. 3. The ballots are to be returned to the FLRA by the close of business on June 22, with agency representatives set to begin counting them the next day. In the event an eligible employee doesn’t receive a ballot, the process to request a duplicate ballot begins May 30.

The election is the result of a petition by CBP for a single representative for the agency’s 21,000 bargaining unit employees (excluding Border Patrol). The FLRA’s regional director for the Washington area called for an election, a decision upheld by the three-member body charged with overseeing federal sector labor-management relations.

To win, a union will have to secure the votes of more than half of all employees who cast ballots. “NTEU is committed to continuing our long record of successful representation of CBP employees and I am determined and confident that NTEU will prevail,” Kelley said.

“The CBP employees who will vote in this election have seen NTEU at work, have interacted with our 600 local leaders, and have benefited from our successes. I look forward to the day when NTEU can represent every CBP bargaining unit employee, in addition to the two-thirds we already represent,” Kelley said.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing some 150,000 employees in 30 agencies and departments.