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Washington, D.C.—The fight to prevent the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) from cutting one-third of its Trademark attorney workforce at the end of this month is “far, far from over,” National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Colleen M. Kelley told a boisterous noon rally of union members outside the Crystal City, VA, headquarters of PTO.

“We are here with one of our strongest weapons,” the NTEU leader told the crowd, “the unified voices of individuals coming together.” NTEU is leading the fight against what President Kelley described as an “irresponsible, unnecessary, misguided” proposed reduction-in-force (RIF) by PTO in which it would lay off 135 attorneys in its Trademark operations by Sept. 30.

The rally, which included members of NTEU Chapters 245 (Trademark Society) and 243 (Patent Office), members of other NTEU chapters and representatives of the Patent Office Professional Association (POPA), was held on the plaza outside the offices of Trademark Commissioner Anne Chasser and PTO Director James Rogan. Among the chants of the protestors: “RIF Rogan” and “Attrition Yes, RIF No.”

President Kelley said that PTO has not only failed to make a business case to support its proposed RIF, but has “consistently failed and refused” to negotiate with NTEU “as required by law.” It is time, the NTEU leader said, “that this agency obey the law.”

To that end, NTEU has sought the expedited assistance of the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA), including the filing of an unfair labor practice and a request with the FLRA that it seek a federal court

temporary restraining order to block the RIF.

In addition, NTEU has asked the FLRA to order PTO to bargain in good faith, and has filed a number of grievances challenging the validity not just of the RIF, but of the procedures the agency has followed in seeking to implement it. President Kelley noted, in particular, that PTO refused to take part in discussions with either the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) or the Federal Service Impasses Panel (FSIP).

The NTEU leader said the protesters are fighting not only for their jobs, but “for the customers and businesses who depend on PTO employees.” In her remarks, she cited a letter from a New York-based law firm whose files were lost in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and which has successfully worked with other federal agencies to reconstruct those files—except the Trademark Office.

The law firm noted, President Kelley said, that while other federal agencies have worked in a timely fashion to reconstruct their records, the Trademark office had not been able to fully reconstruct the firm’s records due to a lack of staffing.

NTEU represents some 2,300 PTO employees in Chapters 243 and 245, including all of the 383 Trademark attorneys. As the largest independent federal union, NTEU represents some 150,000 employees in 26 agencies and departments.