Jan. 26—Unions representing workers at the U.S. Department of Defense scored a solid victory when a judge delayed implementation of new workplace rules for the department’s 750,000 workers. The new rules would undermine collective bargaining rights, gut workers’ pay and slash workplace protections.
The Defense Department, in a Jan. 24 hearing before Judge Emmet Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, agreed to postpone their implementation at least until March 1 so he can review the arguments in the case and reach a decision.
“We’re confident that Judge Sullivan will rule against DoD’s extreme personnel approach,” says AFGE President John Gage.
A coalition of federal workers’ unions filed suit last year to protect Defense Department workers from the rules—known as the National Security Personnel System—originally due to go into effect in February 2005.
Last year, in a lawsuit against similar workplace rules for the 160,000-worker Department of Homeland Security, another federal judge ruled that the proposed workplace rules undermined workers’ collective bargaining rights and blocked implementation of major portions of the rules. The Homeland Security Department has appealed the decision.
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