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A federal judge in Washington state is temporarily blocking the Trump administration from terminating collective bargaining rights for TSA employees.
Judge Marsha Pechman issued the preliminary injunction on Monday after the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) challenged an order from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The unions are accusing the Trump administration of engaging in “an unlawful and unilateral termination of a negotiated union contract that protects approximately 47,000 Transportation Security Officers (TSOs),” according to the AFGE, which filed the lawsuit in March.
In her order, Pechman said that AFGE’s case against the order was compelling, and referred to the DHS orders as the “Noem Determination.”
DHS ENDS COLLECTIVE BARGAINING FOR TSA’S TRANSPORTATION SECURITY OFFICERS
The Trump administration has been blocked from terminating collective bargaining rights for TSA employees, according to a federal judge. (Reuters / Reuters)
“AFGE has demonstrated a strong likelihood that the Noem Determination constitutes impermissible retaliation against it for its unwillingness to acquiesce to the Trump Administration’s assault on federal workers,” the judge wrote.
“AFGE has shown the Noem Determination likely violates Due Process, having afforded no notice or process for AFGE and its members to work with DHS and TSA to resolve any disagreement before simply shredding the contractual promises of the CBA,” she continued.
Pechman added that AFGE has shown that it is “likely to succeed in showing the Noem Determination is arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, particularly given its complete disregard for the 2024 CBA and its mischaracterization of AFGE’s role.”
The ruling comes three months after FOX Business first learned DHS intended to end collective bargaining for certain TSA workers in early March.
JUDGE TEMPORARILY BLOCKS TRUMP ORDER ENDING COLLECTIVE BARGAINING RIGHTS FOR MOST FEDERAL WORKERS
A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) in Atlanta, Georgia, US, on Monday, Oct. 2, 2023. (Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
In a release obtained exclusively by FOX Business, DHS said TSA had more people doing “full-time union work” rather than performing screening functions at 86% of U.S. airports.
At the time, DHS said that current circumstances hindered the TSA’s chief responsibility “to safeguard our transportation systems and keep Americans safe.”
The move was criticized by AFGE National President Everett Kelley, who called the move an “unprovoked attack.”
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Judge Marsha Pechman issued a preliminary injunction after the American Federation of Government Employees union challenged the Department of Homeland Security’s order. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images / Getty Images)
“They gave as a justification a completely fabricated claim about union officials – making clear this action has nothing to do with efficiency, safety, or homeland security,” the labor leader said. “This is merely a pretext for attacking the rights of regular working Americans across the country because they happen to belong to a union.”
FOX Business’ Bradford Betz contributed to this report.
