PASS Calls for FLRA Nominees to Be Voted On

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Published: April 01, 2022

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This week, PASS joined a coalition of federal labor unions calling on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to move swiftly on the president's nominees to the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA).

"We are well over a year into the Biden Administration, yet the President's day-one commitment to resetting labor-management relations in the Executive Branch and pursuing collaborative and productive labor relations in federal government is hampered by a Federal Labor Relations Authority currently controlled by a 2–1 majority of anti-worker, anti-union appointees" held over from the previous administration," the letter states.

The Federal Workers Alliance sent its letter to Committee Chair Gary Peters (D-Mich.), citing, in part, the extensive FLRA and labor law experience of nominees Ernest DuBester and Kurt Rumsfeld. “The qualifications of these nominees should not be in question and DuBester and Rumsfeld’s service at FLRA is not unfamiliar to the Committee,” the letter states. “DuBester has been confirmed numerous times by voice vote to serve on the NMB [National Mediation Board] and the FLRA. Rumsfeld possesses a detailed understanding of FLRA operations, knows first-hand how to efficiently administer and manage the agency to promote effective labor-management relations in federal government.”

The Alliance also made note that the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia has vacated five FLRA decisions under the previous administration, noting that the FLRA misunderstood legal concepts and arrived "at arbitrary decisions that inappropriately set aside precedent."

PASS fully supports both nominees. Read the letter.