Home Media Center News Releases

Washington, D.C.—The leader of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) said today she is confident NTEU will prevail in a union representation election covering employees of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a key unit of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). NTEU already represents two-thirds of CBP employees.

“I’m confident that NTEU has the right structure, the proud history and a 30-year record of accomplishments on behalf of the men and women of the former U.S. Customs Service to be the right choice for CBP employees,” said NTEU National President Colleen M. Kelley.

Late on Friday, the Washington DC Regional Director of the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) ordered a representation election among CBP employees; it is likely that balloting will occur next spring.

The Regional Director’s decision came after hearings which began last November and in response to a petition filed by CBP on May 17, 2004, asking the FLRA to create a single CBP bargaining unit for all employees, with the exception of those in the Border Patrol. It is possible, President Kelley said, that one or more other federal labor organizations will appeal the Regional Director’s decision to the three-member FLRA, which makes the final decision.

NTEU, which gained representational rights in Customs in 1975, represents the largest segment of CBP employees—some 14,000 legacy Customs employees who came into the agency when DHS was established.

As part of its continuing efforts on behalf of all DHS employees, NTEU is leading a federal court fight to prevent the department from implementing regressive personnel rules that would effectively strip from employees their collective bargaining, due process and appeal rights. Last week NTEU secured a second, major legal victory in the case when the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denied DHS’s motion seeking to implement parts of the personnel system and retained in full the injunction NTEU won in August.

NTEU also is working hard to ensure that DHS employee voices are being heard in development by the agency of a proposed new pay and performance management system. NTEU raised grave concerns about the unrealistic and unworkable nature of proposed new performance standards in DHS and successfully called on the agency to delay implementation of changes to the new pay system.

In Congress, NTEU is working to secure passage of legislation, H.R. 1002, the Law Enforcement Officers Equity Act of 2005, to provide law enforcement officer (LEO) status to CBP officers. CBP officers work as the nation's first line of defense against terrorism and the smuggling of illegal drugs and contraband at our borders and ports, yet they do not have the 20-year retirement benefit that comes with LEO status.

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