A Republican senator is demanding answers from the Biden administration after a federal agency allowed ICE to eliminate the labor union for thousands of employees, leaving them working without a collective bargaining agreement.
Sen. James Lankford, Oklahoma Republican, said the Federal Labor Relations Authority appears to have acted rashly in last week’s decision to cancel union membership for the employees at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, at a time when the union chapter, the National ICE Council, was alleging serious misconduct.
Mr. Lankford said the FLRA acted with stunning speed, approving the American Federal for Government Employees’ request to oust the union members in a few weeks, even though the FLRA regularly complains to senators about its massive backlog of work.
“This matter has been processed with remarkable speed, especially considering the novelty of this petition — a matter with little, if any, precedent or well-tested process,” Mr. Lankford wrote in an Aug. 12 letter to FLRA Chairman Ernest DuBester.
The FLRA declined Monday to answer questions from The Washington Times about its actions.
The Times reported last week that the FLRA had granted AFGE’s request to “disclaim” the 6,800 members of the National ICE Council, one of AFGE’s chapters.
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AFGE’s move came just weeks after the council had lodged a complaint with the federal Labor Department demanding an investigation into AFGE over allegations of using union money to pay for exotic dancers and to pursue sex workers, and hush up allegations of racial discrimination and sexual harassment within the union leadership.
The council also said AFGE wasn’t representing ICE employees’ interests.
The council had sought financial independence from AFGE, but AFGE’s disclaimer has had the reverse effect of eliminating the council and taking over all of its money, members said.
Legal experts said the disclaiming procedure was untested — a point Mr. Lankford cited in demanding answers on why the FLRA was able to move with such speed.
He also pointed out that the council wasn’t given any say. The matter was officially between AFGE and ICE itself — each of which had reason to want to punish the union, which has been a vocal critic of both.
AFGE has not responded to repeated inquiries over several months about its battle with the ICE Council.
Chris Crane, who served as president of the council, told The Times last week that ICE and AFGE conspired to eliminate the union.
“There is no doubt that ICE and DHS leadership worked in unison with corrupt union bosses to make this happen,” he said. “DHS and AFGE leadership both wanted desperately to silence ICE Council whistleblowers. Without a union, it’s doubtful those whistleblowers will have jobs much longer.”
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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