Trump kills union contracts for Chicago EPA workers

When hundreds of Chicago employees of the Environmental Protection Agency showed up at work Monday their union protections were stripped by President Donald Trump

Trump foreshadowed the move in March when he signed an executive order that announced union contracts would be canceled for hundreds of thousands of federal workers across the country. This is allowed, the president declared, because agencies, such as the EPA play a role in national security, a claim that is being challenged by labor groups in court.

Critics say the move is no more than union busting.

A local union official says she believes Trump’s motive is to actually remove workers’ rights as his administration begins to dismantle the government agency charged with keeping air, water and land protected from polluters. Businesses have long complained about their costs to comply with environmental regulations.

“No one with half a brain thinks that we are a national security organization. This is an attempt to just silence federal workers,” said Nicole Cantello, an EPA lawyer and the president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 704 for the past six years.

Almost 100 Chicago EPA employees and their supporters held a rally near the agency’s Loop headquarters Tuesday afternoon to protest.

Cantello and other union officials have warned that Trump is rolling back anti-pollution rules, and that should be a concern to anyone who cares about environmental protection, she said.

“EPA unionized employees are speaking up for you,” Cantello said in an interview. “They’re speaking up for your clean water and your clean air. They’re speaking up for the health of you and your children and grandchildren.”

In a statement, the EPA said it’s just following the president’s directive.

“EPA is working to diligently implement President Trump’s executive orders,” the statement said. Trump himself has promised the agency will continue to protect air and water from pollution, while it loosens regulations that he said inhibit businesses.

The environmental agency is just one of many federal bodies affected by the Trump order, however. For instance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and multiple health and science-based organizations are also included.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has also canceled its union contract.

Unions have filed a complaint in federal court in California challenging the legality of what Trump is doing. In all, close to a million federal employees are affected by the order, according to a spokesman from the American Federation of Government Employees’ national office.

“This is giving everyone a blueprint for taking down a union. It’s illegal and we need to stop it,” Cantello said.

Speakers at the Tuesday rally attempted to highlight positive actions by the EPA.

Luis Antonio Flores, an agency chemist, noted that a park in Little Village on the West Side was once a hazardous waste site until EPA cleaned it up more than a decade ago.