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Washington, D.C.—The head of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) today sought an early meeting with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff in the wake of a federal court decision upholding NTEU arguments and declaring illegal key provisions of a new DHS personnel system. The decision blocks implementation of the affected rules.

In a letter sent by facsimile to Secretary Chertoff, NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley said she hopes that under the secretary’s leadership the agency will engage in “good faith efforts resulting in a revised system that DHS front-line employees can support.” The union, Kelley said, “is willing to begin that process.” In the letter, NTEU reiterated its commitment to protecting the legal rights of employees.

Late last Friday, Judge Rosemary Collyer of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a ruling preventing DHS from implementing—as it planned to do today—regulations impacting employee collective bargaining and due process appeal rights, as well as striking down a DHS effort to draft the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) into an appellate role with respect to DHS matters.

President Kelley pressed the point in her message to Secretary Chertoff that the impending DHS regulations have “had a profoundly negative impact on the men and women of DHS.” Indeed, she said, “their morale is at an all-time low” in the wake of department efforts to strip from them basic workplace rights.

“DHS is lucky to have these dedicated employees working every day on behalf of our country,” the NTEU leader wrote. “They are hard-working, talented and committed to the mission of DHS.”