‘False’ Union Claims Hurting Productivity, Morale, EPA Says (2)

The EPA has told its biggest union that accusations about the agency’s return-to-work plans are hurting productivity and employee morale.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s response to the American Federation of Government Employees is the latest development in simmering tensions between the agency and its unionized staff.

In a Wednesday letter to AFGE leadership, Nicole M. Patterson, acting director of the agency’s Labor and Employee Relations Division, told the AFGE that one of its locals has been making “completely untrue” claims about the agency’s alleged failure to discuss with workers its plans to reopen during the coronavirus pandemic.

Those misrepresentations “are ...