Democratic House Members Ask EPA to Resume Bargaining With Union

Democrats in the House of Representatives have asked EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler to return to the bargaining table in an ongoing contract dispute with the agency’s workers.

The request, in a letter signed by 227 Democrats and one Republican, asks the Environmental Protection Agency to resolve the contract disagreement. In October, 41 Senate Democrats asked the EPA to explain why it allegedly walked away from labor talks.

At the heart of the dispute is a new agreement between the EPA and the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents some 8,000 of the agency’s 14,000 workers.

An EPA spokesperson, who had not seen the House letter, said the agency has been negotiating in good faith with AFGE for nearly a decade over a new collective bargaining agreement. But Democratic House lawmakers said their understanding is that the EPA unilaterally imposed the new contract on the AFGE workers in July.

The contract eliminates the grievance process, “stripping workers of important due process and depriving employees of a way to hold managers accountable,” the lawmakers wrote.

It also evicts union representatives from office space; limits the amount of time they can spend meeting with fellow workers and managers; and reduces telework options, thereby “hurting EPA employees who commute long distances because they cannot afford to live close to their offices,” according to the House members’ letter.

EPA Says Union Walked Away

The lead authors of the letter are Reps. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), Ann Kuster (D-N.H.), and Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The Republican signatory is Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, who represents a union-heavy district north of Philadelphia.

The lawmakers asked Wheeler for “timely and continuous updates regarding ongoing negotiations.”

The EPA spokesperson said the Federal Labor Relations Authority forced the AFGE back to the bargaining table in 2017 after approving a settlement agreement for delaying bargaining.

Only after years of effort, during which it was consistently met with a “clear refusal to negotiate” from AFGE, did the EPA propose implementing the new contract, the spokesperson said.

“Almost immediately after implementation, the agency engaged in talks with AFGE, which are still ongoing,” the spokesperson said. “The agency remains dedicated to bargaining in good faith with its unions, and is happy to engage with the Federal Labor Relations Authority to address any of its concerns.”

In October, a Federal Labor Relations Authority investigator found merit in the AFGE’s allegations that the EPA negotiated in bad faith. The decision isn’t a formal finding that the EPA violated labor laws, but rather a finding of preliminary evidence to support the union’s charges.