Senate Confirmation of Anne Wagner Will Usher in New Majority on Federal Labor Relations Authority to Break Deadlock and Restore Reasoned Decision Making
IFPTE thanks Senate Majority Leader Schumer, President Biden, and
Chairman Peters for answering federal workers’ call
New Orleans – The executive officers of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) are elated at the U.S. Senate’s confirmation of Anne Wagner for Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) Member. IFPTE leadership and union delegates learned of the successful cloture vote for Wagner at the union’s 61st Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana, and greeted the news with cheers. Wagner was confirmed with bipartisan support by a vote of 55 to 37, with eight Republican Senators supporting her confirmation. Her term as Member of the FLRA ends on July 1, 2029.
IFPTE President Matthew Biggs:
“IFPTE is pleased that the FLRA has finally been restored to a full complement of members, thereby restoring the due process rights for federal workers and their Unions. I can think of no group of federal employees who have been as harmed by the previous anti-union FLRA majority and the lack of a third tie-breaking Member than our immigration judges, represented by the National Association of Immigration Judges (NAIJ), IFPTE Judicial Council 2. On the eve of the 2020 general election, a rouge FLRA issued an ideologically driven decision that set aside the FLRA Regional Director’s findings and stripped NAIJ’s bargaining rights. They can now petition to have those rights restored. IFPTE thanks Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for answering the call of federal employees to get the labor-backed FLRA Member nominee confirmed as soon as possible. And we thank President Biden for appointing Anne Wagner, a highly qualified and accomplished nominee, to the FLRA.”
IFPTE Secretary-Treasurer Gay Henson:
“Restoring fairness, functionality, and reasoned decision-making to the FLRA has been a top priority for IFPTE. The previous administration tried to bust our immigration judges’ union, the National Association of Immigration Judges (NAIJ), IFPTE Judicial Council 2, by taking away their statutory right to represent their members. While the FLRA issued a decision to that effect in November 2020, they couldn’t bust the union. The leadership of NAIJ hasn’t missed a beat and has brought its members together time and again throughout this whole ordeal. With the confirmation of Anne Wagner, IFPTE looks forward to supporting NAIJ’s effort to restore immigration judges’ collective bargaining and representational rights. IFPTE thanks Leader Schumer, President Biden, and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chair Gary Peters for getting Anne Wagner confirmed and we applaud all the IFPTE members from so many of our federal locals who effectively and persuasively reminded Senators why an FLRA is necessary to protect IFPTE members and federal workers’ rights and support good government.”
Across the United States and Canada, IFPTE represents 90,000 highly skilled workers in the federal, public, and private sectors. IFPTE is an affiliate of the AFL-CIO and the Canadian Labour Congress.
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