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Washington, D.C.—The head of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) has requested an early meeting with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff to see how the parties can work together not only to ensure successful accomplishment of the agency’s mission, but to make sure that employee rights are protected.

In a letter to Secretary Chertoff, who was confirmed by the Senate today, NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley said she was pleased to hear his comments before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that DHS would not succeed unless its employees ‘feel that their service is appreciated and (are) treated fairly.’

“I look forward to working with you to provide you with information as to how the decisions you make as Secretary will affect the rights of over 150,000 employees” of DHS, Kelley wrote, adding that “it is critical” that DHS and NTEU work together. NTEU represents some 15,000 DHS employees in its Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

President Kelley has made it abundantly clear that NTEU believes the new personnel regulations announced late last month by DHS will both hurt employees and impede the department’s mission. NTEU has filed as federal court suit alleging that the regulations are illegal in that DHS and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) overstepped the authority granted by Congress in the Homeland Security Act.

The regulations sharply restrict employees’ collective bargaining and due process rights and serve to stifle the voices of employees and their representatives in the workplace.

The NTEU leader appeared last week before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce and the District of Columbia to present her views on the DHS regulations and allied issues.

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