IFPTE’s executive officers sent a letter this week to Vice President Harris and Labor Secretary Su urging them to step in to help reverse the Executive Office of Immigration Review’s (EOIR) gag order placed on IFPTE members represented by the National Association of Immigration Judges (NAIJ/IFPTE Judicial Council 2).
Read MoreAhead of a vote in the House of Representatives to pass a package of six appropriations bills for Fiscal Year 2024, IFPTE urged Members of the House of Representatives to pass a package of six fiscal year 2024 (FY24) government funding bills Consolidated Approrpations Act, 2024, H. Res. 1061. The House passed the appropriations package with bipartisan support by a vote of 339 to 85.
Read MoreImmigration and border issues are leading the news, the overburdened immigration courts have a backlog of 3.3 million cases, but don’t expect to see quotes from the union representing federal immigration judges in upcoming stories. In an attempt to silence the judges’ union, the two immigration judges who currently serve as president and executive vice president of the National Association of Immigration Judges (NAIJ) have been sent an unprecedented gag order by top management in the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review.
Read MoreAs part of TEAM/IFPTE Local 161’s ongoing campaign to keep telecommunications jobs in Manitoba and in their workplace, and in light of Bell Canada’s recent announcement to cut 4,800 jobs, or 9% of its workforce, TEAM President, Dave Eyjolfson, sent a letter last week to the Honourable Malaya Marcelino, Minister of Labour and Immigration for Manitoba.
Read MoreLeaders and members of TEAM/IFPTE Local 161, WAPSO/IFPTE Local 162, and SUP/IFPTE Local 160 came together this week in Winnipeg, Manitoba to participate in IFPTE’s 3rd annual Western Canada legislative conference.
Read MoreJudge Mimi Tsankov testified this week before the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship and Border Security on the myriad problems “in the current Immigration Court system, which has led us to today’s untenable court system, with 2.6 million cases now waiting to be heard.”
Read MoreIFPTE applauded the reintroduction of the Keep STEM Talent Act, S. 2384, legislation that provides international students graduating with U.S. STEM advanced degrees a pathway to permanence with STEM employment that pays above the median wage.
Read MoreIFPTE applauded the introduction of the H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act, sponsored by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Senate Judiciary Committee Member Charles Grassley (R-IA), and cosponsored by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Senate HELP Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
Read MoreDaily Labor Report: Trump Bust of Immigration Judges' Union Faces D.C. Circuit Scrutiny
Read MoreThis week, Rep. Linda Sánchez led a Congressional Labor Caucus letter to the Department of Justice asking the agency to acknowledge that immigration judges should be covered by the federal labor statute. NAIJ-IFPTE Judicial Council 2 recently filed for a union representation election to restore immigration judges statutory union rights.
Read MoreIFPTE’s Legal Sector Working Group (LSWG), an alliance of IFPTE Canadian and U.S. Locals representing legal professionals, sent a letter to President Biden and Vice President Harris in support of the National Association of Immigration Judges (NAIJ/Judicial Council 2) efforts to re-certify their union.
Read MoreEarlier this year, a Trump-appointed majority on the FLRA, bucking precedent, stripped immigration judges of their collective bargaining rights and union protections. Now, the judges are back filing a petition seeking the restoration of their rights with an FLRA board that includes a new member.
Read MoreAFL-CIO President Liz Schuler: “Our labor movement is fiercely committed to ensuring that all people are able to live and work safely and with dignity.
Read MoreAt a labor briefing for Senate staff, Secretary-Treasurer Gay Henson shared the experiences of the TVA Engineering Association-Local 1937 members who successfully blocked their employer’s efforts to privatize their work to offshore-outsourcing firms replying on the H-1B work visa program.
Read MoreIn response to the latest decision and order from the FLRA against the National Association of Immigration Judges-IFPTE Judicial Council 2, the Federal Workers Alliance sent letter to remind Senate Democrats that the Trump appointed majority on the FLRA is carrying out the previous administration’s anti-federal union agenda and other policy priorities as it attacks federal employees’ union rights.
Read MoreIFPTE responded to the Federal Labor Relations Authority’s revocation of NAIJ-IFPTE Judicial Council 2’s union certification, denying over 530 immigration judges employed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) their statutory union rights. NAIJ was recognized and certified as the exclusive union representative for immigration judges in 1979.
Read More“Any national agenda that seeks to empower American workers and remove barriers to good-paying jobs in STEM occupations must include reforming the H-1B program so that it does not continue to harm American workers nor take advantage of H-1B workers.”
Read MoreIFPTE remarked on the introduction of the Real Courts, Rule of Law Act of 2022, which proposes to create an independent Article 1 immigration court, a long-held legislative priority for NAIJ-IFPTE Judicial Council 2.
Read MoreIn a cynical attempt to bust the union that has represented and given voice to the nation’s immigration judges for nearly half a century, two anti-union board members of the three-member Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) have voted to strip collective bargaining rights from judges and their union.
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