Posts tagged Department of Homeland Security
America’s Largest Teachers’ Union Prizes Activism Over Education
April 2, 2026 // Members of America’s largest teachers’ union, the National Education Association (NEA), were back in training in February, this time for a confidential webinar entitled “Advocacy and Free Speech Rights for K-12 Educators.” The leaked slide deck, posted by the watchdog group Defending Education, reveals that the NEA is less focused on American students’ stagnant test scores than on training its members to become activists, while using misinterpretations of the First Amendment as a shield.
VA re-terminates AFGE contract for 300K employees, despite court order to restore it
March 30, 2026 // The Office of Personnel Management initially told agencies to hold off on terminating labor contracts with unions while legal challenges were still pending. But OPM reversed course last month, when it advised agencies to proceed with either amending or fully canceling their collective bargaining agreements. In granting her preliminary injunction, DuBose wrote that she did not determine whether the Trump administration exceeded its legal authority when it issued its executive orders rolling back collective bargaining rights. The legality of the executive order is still under review by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
Congress guarantees furloughed feds’ back pay despite continued White House maneuvering
February 3, 2026 // The Office of Personnel Management removed citations of the 2019 Federal Employee Fair Treatment Act from its shutdown guidance last month, as the Trump administration continues to insist that the law guaranteeing all federal employees back pay after a shutdown doesn’t.
TSA’s union distractions thwart air safety — so Trump is stepping in
December 30, 2025 // A recent report from my colleagues at the Institute for the American Worker shows collective bargaining at assorted federal agencies involve such pressing issues as the height of cubicle desk panels, smoking areas in tobacco-free federal properties and the right to wear sweatpants and spandex in federal offices. At the Department of Veterans Affairs, taxpayers foot the bill for a labor union to occupy half a hospital wing. Across the federal government last year, federal employees spent more than 3.2 million hours doing union work instead of their jobs
Border Agents ‘Interrogated’ Striking Workers In Chicago, Teamsters Say
December 17, 2025 // Coronado said the Mauser workers had been trying to negotiate immigration-related protections in their next contract, including a stipulation that the company would not allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on the property unless they had a judicial warrant.
US Invalidates Union Contract Covering 47,000 TSA Officers, AFGE Vows to Challenge
December 16, 2025 // U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Friday terminated the collective bargaining agreement covering 47,000 Transportation Security Administration officers, the department said in a statement.
13 Republicans Vote to Nullify Donald Trump’s Executive Order
December 11, 2025 // Democratic Representative Jared Golden, who led the bill, forced a vote on it by using a mechanism known as a discharge petition. The Congressional procedure means lawmakers can force a vote on a piece of legislation against the wishes of the leadership on the condition that it has majority support in the House.
California union leader pleads not guilty to charges after LA ICE protest arrest
December 2, 2025 // According to a Homeland Security Investigation officer's sworn affidavit, Huerta sat in front of a vehicular gate to a staging ground for ICE operations that were ongoing nearby. The officer claims Huerta refused orders to clear the scene and asked fellow protesters to join him in blocking the gate. The interaction turned physical, DHS claims, and Huerta was briefly hospitalized as a result. Gov. Gavin Newsom denounced his arrest and called Huerta a "respected leader, a patriot, and an advocate for working people."
The Federal Workforce Will Be a Little Smaller After the Government Shutdown Ends
October 16, 2025 // While further reductions in the size of the federal workforce are certainly welcome, the layoffs will have to become significantly more aggressive to more than scratch the federal Leviathan. While smaller than its peak at 3.4 million workers in 1990 and then again in 2010, the federal government still employed 2.9 million people, not counting military personnel, as of August 2025. That's almost 3 million people living off the taxes collected by the federal government (or, increasingly, the money it borrows) rather than productively creating goods and services for willing consumers. And those nearly 3 million people aren't all just sitting around. Too many of them get up to mischief by exercising the power of the government to interfere in people's lives and to enforce intrusive rules and laws. Just see my comment above about the public health establishment and the pandemic. Fewer federal employees mean not so many mischief-makers to cause trouble, along with some cost savings.
US Supreme Court won’t review rule allowing H-1B holders’ spouses to work
October 15, 2025 // The justices denied a petition, opens new tab by Save Jobs USA, which represents American tech workers who it says were displaced by foreign labor, to review a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that said the Department of Homeland Security had the power to adopt the rule in 2015. Following its usual practice, the court did not explain its decision.