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Washington, D.C.—The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) today strongly endorsed the call of the House Majority Leader for a prompt and detailed explanation from the administration for its action in stripping collective bargaining rights from federal employees who have held such rights for decades.

NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley welcomed the demand in a letter from Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) to Attorney General Michael Mukasey. Late last month President Bush issued an executive order taking away collective bargaining rights from employees in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)—rights they have exercised for 30 years.

“The administration has taken an outrageous action that is unjustifiable, especially since ATF employees have had collective bargaining for decades,” President Kelley said. “In all that time, there has never been a negative impact on the agency’s mission or our nation’s security.”

In his letter to the attorney general, Rep. Hoyer wrote “If, as the Administration asserts, that activity conflicts with their national security responsibilities, I believe the employees, the public, and Congress deserve to know how. I would appreciate it if you could provide me a detailed explanation of why, after more than 30 years of collective bargaining, the Administration moved to rescind the collective bargaining rights of ATF employees whose duties and functions remain unchanged.”

Most ATF bargaining unit employees are Industry Operations Investigators, dealing largely with issues of licensing and compliance. NTEU strongly believes that the provisions of the labor-management relations chapter of Title 5 can be applied to ATF in a manner consistent with national security requirements and considerations, as they have been for years.

President Kelley, who was joined earlier this week in expressing outrage about the White House action both by Rep. Hoyer and Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), chairman of a key Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee, reiterated her promise that NTEU will move aggressively with the new Congress and president to counter it.

In April NTEU signed a new labor agreement with ATF, addressing a variety of workplace needs for both employees and the agency. As is the case in the federal sector, the agreement received approval at the highest levels of agency leadership before becoming effective.

President Kelley said that this move is insulting to ATF employees. “Their employer is telling them they can no longer be trusted to exercise collective bargaining rights consistent with their job responsibilities,” she said.

“NTEU represents thousands of employees involved with law enforcement and homeland security and has for more than 30 years,” President Kelley said. “In all that time, collective bargaining has never interfered with agency missions, and in fact, has created strong, professional and stable workforces.”

As the largest independent federal union, NTEU represents 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments.