In the Name of Homeland Security: A Legal History of Post-9/11 Labor Policy at US Customs

摘要

"MAXhr", the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) personnel system authorized as part of the most significant government restructure of the past 50 years by the Homeland Security Act (HSA), fundamentally altered labor relations policies for 170,000 DHS employees. A subsequent National Security Personnel System at the Department of Defense was modeled after MAXhr and expanded similar changes to nearly 700,000 federal civilian employees. Within this context of these systemic changes, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) litigated a decade-long challenge to uphold key provisions of its collectively bargained agreement with the US Customs Service (USCS). Fifteen years after the HSA merged USCS into the new US Customs and Border Protection agency within the DHS, NTEU's initial legal setbacks have been resolved with precedential victories and pending back pay awards upholding its collective bargaining rights while rolling back the personnel management systems instituted in the name of homeland security.