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                         January 25, 2002

No justice

AFGE upset by Bush's ban of unions at justice

"The administration’s decision to exempt certain Justice Department offices from a labor law is the result of bad advice from his subordinates," said Phil Kete, general counsel at the American Federation of Government Employees.

Kete was referring to the executive order issued by President Bush Jan. 7 that exempted five Justice Department offices from union representation for national security reasons.

"The order was necessary to prevent union contracts from restricting, through strikes or other means, the ability of Justice agencies to do their work," White House officials explained.

But, countered Bobby Harnage, AFGE’s president, Title 5 and Title 18 of the U.S. Code already prohibits federal employees from participating in strikes against the government.

White House officials said the decision to exempt the Justice Department sections from federal labor law, which allows employees to be represented by unions, followed the practices of recent presidents, who believed a unionized workforce was not appropriate for some agencies, particularly those in national security and intelligence work.

Past presidents -- Democrats and Republicans -- exempted agencies such as the Secret Service and parts of the Drug Enforcement Administration from federal labor law, officials added.

But Kete said the existing relationship between AFGE and the U.S. attorneys’ offices has not "disrupted the government’s ability to carry out investigations related to national security."

The decision affects more than 500 employees at the various agencies.