WASHINGTON -- October 29 -- The nation’s largest independent union of federal workers today sued the federal government, claiming violation of its members’ First Amendment rights to protest reductions-in-force and outsourcing of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) jobs. The General Services Administration (GSA) denied an August rally permit, claiming the purpose of the rally was inconsistent with the present administration’s political “agenda,” the suit alleges.

The suit filed by the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York alleges that the GSA improperly and illegally denied NTEU Chapter 47 a permit to conduct the rally in an area open to the public at 26 Federal Plaza in New York’s Lower Manhattan.

NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley called the GSA denial of the permit “an outrageous infringement of our members’ First Amendment rights.” She added that in filing this suit, NTEU “intends to send a loud and clear message—despite this administration’s efforts to stifle our voices, NTEU will not be silenced. We will fight for our members’ jobs and their constitutional rights.”

Chapter 47, which represents some 1,500 employees of the IRS, had initially secured a permit from the New York City Police Department. Nonetheless, GSA claimed that the location of the planned rally was federal property, and it denied the union permission to hold the event.

The rally to protest administration efforts to contract out federal jobs—and attended by several members of Congress as well as President Kelley—was held, but because of GSA’s illegal actions was confined to a small space on the sidewalk adjacent to a busy downtown street, rather than on an open plaza near the federal building which has been used for past public rallies.

Each of the members of the New York House delegation who attended—U.S. Reps. Joseph Crowley, Major Owens, Eliot Engel and Anthony Weiner—questioned the fact that NTEU was not allowed to conduct the rally in the larger, more appropriate upper plaza area.

The suit recounts the efforts NTEU and Chapter 47 undertook in pursuit of a permit from GSA—after having secured the necessary permit from NYPD. In the course of those efforts, union officials were told by representatives of Federal Protective Services (FPS), which provides law enforcement at federal facilities, that the rally posted no security threat.

Nonetheless, after waiting to respond until shortly before the planned Aug. 19 rally, GSA finally said it was denying the permit on the basis of “security concerns.” When officials of FPS reiterated that there were no security issues with the planned rally, a GSA manager then told the head of Chapter 47 that the permit request was being turned down because it’s “not the administration’s agenda to have a protest regarding contracting out.”

The NTEU suit alleges not only a violation of the First Amendment, but violations by GSA of its own federal property management regulations. These set out specific criteria for denying permits to use federal property—including such problems as failing to provide all necessary information, falsifying such information and using the property for commercial activity—none of which were present in this instance.

NTEU is seeking not only a judgment that GSA’s denial was illegal and unconstitutional, but an injunction requiring GSA to grant future similar permit requests.As the largest independent federal union, NTEU represents some 150,000 employees in 30 agencies and departments, including some 98,000 in the IRS.

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