Federal Worker Unions Lose Only 1 Percent of Complaints Filed Against Them by Government Workers: Study

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) and other members of the Texas delegation hold a press conference about the Texas Rangers' bicentennial, in Washington on March 1, 2023, in a still from video released by NTD. (NTD)

Taxpayers fear having to talk to the IRS, Medicare patients hate appealing coverage decisions, and beneficiaries dread dealing with the Social Security Administration, but one group that apparently has nothing to fear from the government is labor unions representing federal civil service workers.

An analysis by Americans for Fair Treatment (AFFT) of Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) data found less than one percent of the more than 1,200 government worker complaints filed between December 2015 and December 2022 resulted in any kind of adverse action against civil service employee unions.

The vast majority of the annual average of 193 complaints filed during the seven-year period involved the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest of the multiple labor groups representing portions of the 2.1 million federal civil service workforce.

A total of 935 complaints were filed during the period against AFGE, while 108 were filed against the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU). Only nine of the 1,211 employee complaints resulted in FLRA enforcement against the union involved. Eight of those were against AFGE, while one of the complaints filed against NTEU went against the union. Eight other unions representing small segments of the federal workforce had single-digit totals.

Spokesmen for both AFGE and NTEU were asked by The Epoch Times for comments, but neither responded.

Doubts About FLRA Objectivity:

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), who is chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee’s Subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce, told The Epoch Times that “the report is alarming, casting doubts on the [FLRA’s] capacity to administer the law with the requisite fairness and impartiality. We cannot overstate the importance of safeguarding the rights of every worker. The question of whether justice has indeed been served for all employees looms large and warrants our immediate attention.”

The Epoch Times has asked the FLRA for a response to Sessions’ statement and to the AFFT analysis.

The AFGE, which is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, represents more than 750,000 federal workers employed by virtually every major department and agency and recently issued claims to be currently in the midst of a significant expansion of membership.

“This May, AFGE added the most members in one month to our union in eight years and recruited the most members of any May in over a decade. It also marked eight months of consecutive growth for our union. Not only is that a good sign for the overall strength of our union, it’s yet another high point in an incredibly strong year of organizing and recruitment for our union,” the statement said.

The NTEU represents 150,000 federal workers employed by 34 departments and agencies.

More than half (52 percent) of the total complaints for the period were dismissed, with 636 being dismissed in full and two dismissed in part. A total of 503 of the dismissals involved complaints against AFGE, and 56 were against NTEU. In 552 of the cases, the complaint was withdrawn by the employee prior to any FLRA ruling, including 416 against AFGE and 51 against NTEU, according to AFFT.

A substantial number of case rulings by the FLRA were appealed, but employees fared little better.

“Unfortunately, federal employees face an even more daunting challenge in appealing a loss against their union to the FLRA General Counsel, which has failed to grant a single appeal filed by an individual employee,” the AFFT analysis reported. The General Counsel denied 231 of the appeals, while 90 remain under consideration at the present time.

The lack of cases won by employees appears to be reflected in the annual totals. The highest year was 2016, with 94, followed by 2018, with 65, and 2017 with 60. But the number of new complaints filed plunged in 2019 to 26, followed in successive years by 25, 24, and 22.

The AFFT analysis argues that the current system of federal workforce labor regulations is strongly biased in favor of the unions, with a result that the costs in attorneys fees and lost time involved for an employee are a huge discouragement.

“The primary issue seems to be the financial disadvantage of the employees. The cost of hiring an attorney to file an ‘unfair labor practice’ charge could quickly outweigh the value of the charge itself. The typical public employee can’t afford to hire an attorney for a matter of mere principle. In contrast, unions and employers have plenty of lawyers either on staff or under a flat retainer that would cover an unfair labor practice charge,” the analysis said.

Is It Biden’s FLRA?

“This same inequity hurts employees who attempt to represent themselves without an attorney in a labor board proceeding. They often find themselves outmatched by union and employer lawyers who cut their teeth prosecuting labor board charges of their own. The lawyers seem not only to know the law; they seem to know everyone who works at the labor board—and they’re on a first-name basis,” according to the analysis.

Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Committee, told The Epoch Times that “once again, the Biden FLRA is showing that its priority is to empower the administration’s political allies who head up federal unions while throwing rank-and-file federal employees under the bus. In addition to making it difficult for employees to hold union bosses accountable when they violate their rights, the Biden FLRA also traps federal workers under unwanted union control by enforcing unreasonable restrictions on employees’ right to vote out unions.

“Ultimately, union bosses should not have the power to force federal employees under their one-size-fits-all representation, a privilege which also gives them substantial clout over public services that taxpayers should be in control of.”

According to opensecrets.org, AFGE, during the 2022 election cycle, contributed nearly $2 million to congressional campaigns, with 95 percent of those donations going to Democrats. Similarly, 96 percent of the more than $533,000 in 2022 campaign contributions by NTEU’s political action committees went to Democrats. Both unions endorsed President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.