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Washington, D.C.—The leader of the union representing nearly 16,000 employees in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today welcomed action in the House of Representatives to remove from pending intelligence reform legislation a proposal that would have made it easier to strip collective bargaining rights from a wide range of federal employees.

“The provision not only was unnecessary and unwise,” said President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), “it called for action not contained in the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission,” which urged substantial changes in the nation’s system of gathering and analyzing intelligence.

The House proposal initially called for repeal of a segment of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 which sets out the procedures concerning the president’s authority to take away the collective bargaining rights of DHS employees—and it would have broadened the president’s power to remove such rights from employees throughout the federal government.

“I appreciate the effort of Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA) and others in the administration whom NTEU approached with our concerns about this provision in working to secure its removal from the bill,” President Kelley said.

The NTEU leader noted that this important matter was thoroughly examined during the lengthy debate that led to passage of the Homeland Security Act. “Nothing has happened since to warrant revisiting this issue,” she said.

Since the startup of DHS in early 2003 with employees from some 22 federal agencies, NTEU has been engaged in extensive discussions with DHS Secretary Tom Ridge and Director Kay Coles James of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) concerning new personnel regulations for DHS employees. Kelley noted that these provisions had never been proposed by either DHS or OPM.

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