Union rights removed for hundreds at Western Pa. safety research center

Hundreds of workers at the Bruceton Research Center in the South Hillswere stripped of their union contracts this week.

The center, located on the border of Pleasant Hills and South Park, employs about 200 workers with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health who study miner safety and personal protective equipment.

In a letter obtained by TribLive, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services stated it no longer recognizes the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1916 as the representative for the Bruceton center workers in question.

Thomas Nagy, chief human capital officer for the department, cited a March executive order from President Donald Trump that told most agencies to terminate collective bargaining agreements.

Similar letters went out to locals across the country with thousands of members at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and, within that, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

The Trump administration also voided contracts earlier this month at the Department of Veterans Affairs and Environmental Protection Agency.

Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Andrew Nixon said canceling the contracts ensures “resources and personnel are fully focused on safeguarding the health and security of the American people.”

Union activities, he added, are “unnecessary obstacles” for the agency.

U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, called on the agency to immediately reinstate the contracts.

“The Trump administration’s decision to terminate these workers’ contracts is another attack on workers’ rights, collective bargaining and the safety and well being of our communities,” Lee said.

U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Fox Chapel, said he will stand up for the workers’ freedom to collectively bargain.

Lilas Soukup, president of Local 1916, said she wasn’t surprised by the letter after officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ignored union-related emails for months.

Ending the union’s contract does not impact its right to exist — just its ability to leverage certain official channels and resources.

And it won’t enable the department to unilaterally change pay or benefits, which are set by Congress. Federal unions mainly bargain over working conditions.

Soukup said the union was told to vacate its office space, turn over equipment and conduct all union activities off the clock. Union officers and stewards would previously get what’s called official time, where they could step aside while working to, for instance, answer questions from members.

It will also be forced to collect dues on its own, rather than rely on a payroll deduction.

“We’ll still be able to represent, it’s just going to be a different methodology,” Soukup said.

For example, grievances will now have to be routed through the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board or the Federal Labor Relations Authority, though neither of those bodies are functioning as Trump tries to fire their top officials.

If all else fails, members should send their grievances to their congressional representatives, according to Philip Glover, national vice president of District 3 for the American Federation of Government Employees. In certain cases, legal action may also be an option.

Glover remains confident in the union’s strength. The first federal unions formed in the 1930s, he noted, but weren’t recognized until the 1960s,

“Unions have operated this way before,” Glover said.

Work at Bruceton continues

Most Bruceton center workers impacted by Tuesday’s letter have been on the chopping block at some point during the Trump administration.

The agency, led by “Make American Healthy Again” architect Robert F. Kennedy Jr., notified thousands of employees earlier this year they would be let go. It later narrowed the scope of layoffs.

“The stress and anxiety levels are extremely high,” Soukup said. “Should you buy the car? Or OK, you had a major appliance that just blew up… and you’re worrying in the back of your mind, ‘next Thursday, I might not have a paycheck.’”

Among those spared were dozens of employees at the Bruceton center who certified respirators as safe and effective. They tested the N-95 masks that proliferated during the covid-19 pandemic.

But the mining research team is still in jeopardy, even as Trump looking to reinvigorate the country’s coal industry. Originally slated to be laid off June 2, they’re instead stuck in limbo as their jobs hinge on whether an injunction by a Rhode Island-based federal judge holds.

These employees have been given the choice of continuing to work or taking paid administrative leave until there’s a final court ruling.

“They’re paying people not to work,” Soukup said. “It’s craziness.”

The Bruceton facility, spanning hundreds of acres, also houses an office for the Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration as well as the Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory.

Their jobs and union contracts have not been impacted, per Soukup.

“To date,” she added.