Letter to the Hon. Mark Esper, Secretary of the United States Department of Defense - U.S. Senator Tina Smith & Democratic Senate Colleagues Defend Right of Department of Defense Civilian Workers to Engage in Collective Bargaining

Letter

Dear Secretary Esper:

We write to express our concerns regarding President Trump's January 29, 2020 Memorandum to the Department of Defense (DOD), "Delegation of Certain Authority under the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute." We support efforts that strengthen our national security, however this Memorandum represents a serious incursion on federal employees' collective bargaining rights and sets a dangerous precedent in suggesting that those rights somehow compromise our national security. We urge you to exercise great restraint in using this new authority and continue to maintain the historically productive relationship that DOD has with its employee unions.

DOD has successfully bargained with its unionized workers under various arrangements since 1962, and DOD civilian employees have been included in the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute since its inception in 1978. During that time, America has been engaged in many international conflicts and national emergencies. There is no evidence that the presence of unionized employees has ever had any negative impact on DOD's national security mission. In fact, DOD and its unions have always had a mutually beneficial partnership. Unions have helped draw attention to health and safety hazards, as well as instances of waste, fraud, and abuse on the part of contractors. Moreover, a unionized workforce allows DOD to recruit and retain highly-skilled employees who might otherwise work elsewhere. In short, we believe that the Department's unionized workforce has enhanced our security, not detracted from it. President Trump's Memorandum arbitrarily and needlessly threatens this positive relationship.

The Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute of 1978 is the cornerstone of our civil service, and it clearly states that labor organizations and collective bargaining in the federal sector "safeguards the public interest." Stripping long-included employees of the statute's protections is counterproductive to DOD's national security mission, and the President's Memorandum fails to articulate why such a drastic change is necessary. We strongly discourage you from taking steps to eliminate the statutorily-granted collective bargaining rights of DOD civilians.

Sincerely,