By Doug Cunningham

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. says the Bush administration’s efforts to gut collective bargaining at the Department of Homeland Security are illegal. National Treasury Employee Union President Colleen Kelley says it’s a big win for workers and their unions.

[Colleen Kelley 1]: “We won a sweeping legal victory for all DHS employees. What the court declared was that the labor relations portion of the Homeland Security’s regressive personnel system are illegal and they cannot be implemented.”

Kelley says the court was very clear that these Bush administration personnel system changes at the Department of Homeland Security are illegal attacks on collective bargaining rights.

[Kelley 2]: “The court characterized the DHS regulation as – and this is a quote – as a flagrant departure from the norms of collective bargaining. And they also described the government’s arguments in defense of the regulations as simply bizarre – and that’s a quote. And also as - quote -defying common sense.”

The NTEU says this court victory is also likely to stop similar collective bargaining attacks at the Department of Defense and throughout the federal government.