AFGE SEVERS ONE OF ITS COUNCILS

AFGE just made a very hard decision. It notified FLRA that it no longer wished to represent the 7,500 employees of the Immigration & Citizenship Enforcement (ICE) service. That means a big loss of revenue for AFGE and the ICE employees are without any union representatives at all.  Why?  Well, apparently the employees and the leaders of the old AFGE locals in the ICE Council of locals were unhappy with the AFGE and AFL-CIO political positions on immigration, e.g., trying to stop employers from exploiting them. The unhappiness was mutual given the ICE Council leaders have been working hard to oppose the national union’s political goals. Here is a good story with more depth.  It seems a certainty that the old AFGE local leaders in ICE will try to form their own union and seek formal recognition from FLRA. What is less certain is whether AFGE tries to reorganize ICE employees with a new structure run by different local leaders or even whether another union tries to get in.  If either of those two things happens, ICE employees could be without union representation for years, during which they will be extremely vulnerable to agency reorganization plans.