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Washington, D.C.—The leader of the union representing thousands of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees today called on DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff to generate a wholesale change in the negative attitude within the department toward its employees and “to hold agency managers accountable for complying with their statutory and contractual obligations.”

President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) did so in a letter to Secretary Chertoff in the wake of the DHS decision not to appeal to the Supreme Court NTEU’s court victories in turning back DHS efforts to impose regressive personnel rules on its employees.

Kelley said DHS “showed sound judgment” when it decided not to seek Supreme Court review of NTEU’s appeals court victory, adding that “I now write to urge DHS to show the same sound judgment in charting the future of its labor relations program.”

In particular, the NTEU leader said that DHS’s Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) “continues to demonstrate a frequent willingness to ignore both its statutory and contractual obligations with NTEU,” actions that she said have “precipitated an unprecedented level of litigation and employee dissatisfaction.”

She said that “in the current climate, CBP employees rarely get the chance to bring their dedication and expertise to bear on the challenging issues with which DHS is confronted. They are excluded from the decision-making process and are given a voice in the workplace only when NTEU successfully vindicates basic statutory and contractual rights denied by CBP.”

Kelley added: “I hope you will agree with me that there should be a better way of doing business.”

At the same time, the union leader reminded the secretary that as a result of the successful litigation led by NTEU against key elements of its personnel rules, DHS agencies remain subject to the provisions of Chapter 71 to Title 5 of the U.S. Code.

Noting that federal district and appeals court invalidated DHS’s labor relations rules because they failed to conform to the dictates of the Homeland Security Act (HSA), which established the department, Kelley also reminded the agency head of the HSA requirement that any adjustments to its new personnel system must be made in accordance with that statute.

“NTEU expects, therefore, that DHS will fully comply with (the Act’s) notice, comment and consultation requirements if it attempts any system modifications.” The union “also expects” that if DHS attempts to modify the labor relations components of its new system, any such modifications will comply with HSA requirements that collective bargaining rights “be ensured,” she said.

Ideally, Kelley added, “any new labor relations program will explicitly recognize the value of employee involvement in workplace decision-making,” noting that NTEU “stands ready, of course, to challenge vigorously any violations of (HSA’s) procedural or substantive requirements.”

She called on Secretary Chertoff “to encourage an environment where employee input and expertise is valued and where employees and their unions are viewed not as adversaries, but as partners in protecting our nation’s security.”

Kelley added: “Neither the department nor its employees benefit from the current environment of exclusion or mistrust.”

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing some 150,000 federal workers in 30 agencies and departments, including more than 14,000 in CBP.