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Washington, D.C. -- The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) called today's House of Representatives vote on the Customs Service funding bill "a very unfortunate step i backward" in the nation's war on drugs.

NTEU President Robert M. Tobias said House approval of a Customs authorization bill, which cuts the pay of some Customs employees and reduces collective bargaining rights, "clearly is an example of election year politics being allowed to eclipse the achievements of the Customs Service."

Far from improving the nation's record in the drug war, Tobias said, the House bill "will only make things more difficult and dangerous" for the men and women of Customs and the public they work hard to protect. The legislation would allow the Customs commissioner to negate labor agreement provisions on minimum staff levels and hours worked, among other vital matters.

The NTEU president, whose union is the largest independent federal sector labor organization and which represents some 13,000 Customs employees, said the House bill "clouds the success in drug interdiction we have achieved together in Operation Brass Ring, and unavoidably sets back Labor?management partnership efforts" in Customs.

Operation Brass Ring is a concentrated sic?month effort, involving an unprecedented level of labor-management cooperation, to stem the flow of illegal drugs across the U. S. southern border. Less than a week ago, it resulted in the seizure of some $200 million worth of cocaine?two tons of the drug?at Laredo, Tex., the largest such seizure in more than three years.

"It is very difficult to successfully ask people to work with you when you undercut their morale by reducing their pay and by giving management the unilateral right to disavow key sections of their collective bargaining agreement," Tobias said.

He added that NTEU intends to continue fighting to eliminate the anti?worker provisions in the Customs funding bill in the Senate. Proposals there virtually mirror the House bill in granting the agency modest increases in funding and manpower, but do not give the Customs commissioner the right to abrogate provisions of the labor agreement.

Senate proposals also do not significantly change the Customs compensation system, as does the House?passed measure, which, among other steps, sharply cuts night differential pay, despite the fact that many Customs employees Work such shifts. A cut in night differential is a pay cut amounting, in some cases, to as much as $5,000 per year.