AFGE Lauds Appeals Court Rulings Upholding Union Rights of Federal Workers

American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley issued the following statement in response to two recent decisions issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that reversed attempts by the Federal Labor Relations Authority to upend the collective bargaining rights of federal workers:

"These two decisions are a victory for all federal workers. They highlight the extreme lengths to which the holdover majority on the Federal Labor Relations Authority will go in its attempts to bust unions, limit collective bargaining, and run roughshod over the law.

"Today's ruling strikes down the FLRA's unfounded attempt to restrict a union's right to bargain over changes affecting conditions of employment for the employees it represents. As the court rightly recognized, the FLRA's decision was arbitrary and capricious from the start.

"Friday's ruling overturned another baseless FLRA decision that would have drastically reduced federal unions' collective bargaining by eliminating the statutory right to mid-term bargaining and making so-called 'zipper clauses' a mandatory subject of bargaining.

"AFGE salutes the court for recognizing that the FLRA impermissibly departed from the statute governing federal-sector labor relations and years of well-founded precedent with little explanation and less reasoning. The court's decisions are a vindication for the rule of law and a necessary move toward returning balance and stability to federal-sector labor relations."