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Washington, D.C.—Attorneys for the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) today urged a federal court to deny the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) request to narrow a court-imposed injunction preventing implementation of key segments of a new personnel system that would effectively do away with meaningful collective bargaining in DHS.

NTEU, acting as lead counsel in the legal fight against the DHS personnel system, advanced its position in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in oral argument, arguing that the illegal provisions could not be carved out of the system. The union contented that DHS would not have wanted to go forward with the remaining elements of the new system without the provisions struck down by the court.

DHS asked the court to narrow its Aug. 12 ruling which agreed with NTEU that the regulations, issued jointly by DHS and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), sought to create a system that fails to ensure employees’ right to bargain collectively, as required by the Homeland Security Act (HSA). The court determined that “significant aspects” of the system “fail to conform to the express dictates” of HSA.

The court’s Aug. 12 decision invalidated two critical components of the regulations—the mechanism for obtaining review of decisions about labor-management disputes by an internal DHS board, and the power of DHS to abrogate collective bargaining agreements. NTEU attacked the DHS efforts to sever the invalidated provisions from the remainder of the regulations and the agency’s claim that, notwithstanding the judge’s decision, it continues to have the right to overturn and effectively ignore negotiated agreements, making collective bargaining “illusory.”

During the hearing, the court expressed concerns about management’s right to take matters off the table during negotiations, noting “the bargaining itself is on quicksand because nothing is binding.”

NTEU attorneys argued that the system would allow “any manager to declare any action necessary to fulfill the department’s mission” thus making the issue non-negotiable.

The judge stated that she is troubled that the regulations have given DHS “so much flexibility that there is no opportunity for collective bargaining. For me, that’s the fundamental issue here,” she stated.

NTEU also argued that any adjustments to the system proposed by DHS require must be subjected to the process of collaboration with DHS unions, as required by the HSA.

Judge Collyer said she hopes to render a decision on the motion to narrow the injunction by Oct. 11.