House Committee Action on Anti-Employee and Anti-Union Legislation

Earlier this week, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform considered several anti-employee and anti-union bills. All of the bills were advanced favorably out of committee on party line votes.

Included on the committee’s agenda were: H.R. 5300, introduced by Representative Gary Palmer (AL-6), that would prohibit bargaining on adverse impacts on employees from agency IT decisions; H.R. 6391, sponsored by Representative Jody Hice (GA-10) that would make major changes to the Merit Systems Protection Board’s (MSPB or Board) appeal functions, including instituting a filing fee, allowing the MSPB to deny employees the right to a hearing, to prohibit the Board from mitigating agency personnel decisions, and to lower the evidentiary burden from preponderance to substantial evidence for all cases; and a revised H.R. 559, introduced by Representative Barry Loudermilk (GA-11), that, among other items, would eliminate adverse actions under Chapter 43, amend Chapters 71 and Chapter 75 to expedite adverse actions, prohibit the use of grievance procedures for adverse actions, and extend probationary periods for a minimum of at least two years. Several committee members spoke against the legislation and defended the existing role of federal employee labor organizations, as well as current employee due process rights, including Representatives Elijah Cummings (MD-7), Norton (DC-Del.), Connolly (VA-11), Cartwright (PA-17), and Raskin (MD-8).

NTEU strongly opposes these measures which deny the opportunity for frontline voices to be heard in the workplace. NTEU will continue its work with its allies in both the House and Senate to block this harmful legislation.

For more information, please visit or Legislative Action Center.