Court Rejects Effort to Attack NTEU Chapter’s Bargaining Rights

One day after the President issued his executive order attempting to exclude the IRS from the federal labor statute, the administration filed a lawsuit in Kentucky against NTEU Chapter 73 (Covington Service Center). Citing the executive order, the administration asked the court in Kentucky to give it permission to ignore the NTEU-IRS national collective bargaining and any local agreements negotiated by Chapter 73.
 
Yesterday, the Kentucky court found that the government did not have standing (or, the right) to bring a lawsuit against the chapter because, at the time the lawsuit was filed, the administration had neither taken an action against the chapter nor suffered any harm.
 
The court said it was not permitted to give an “advisory opinion” about the impact of the executive order on Chapter 73. It also said that the government’s complaints about having to comply with the collective bargaining agreements were too speculative to show injury.
 
Make no mistake: The administration filed its Kentucky lawsuit immediately after the executive order was issued so that it could choose a favorable location to defend the President’s order. But no lawsuit will stop NTEU from fighting against this administration’s harmful attacks. We will always fight to ensure that federal employees are treated with dignity and respect, and the preservation of collective bargaining—at every level, at every chapter—is the foundation of that respect.