In today’s News and Commentary, AFGE argues at a hearing that the TSA’s termination of the collective bargaining agreement covering TSA employees violates the union’s First Amendment rights, agricultural workers supported by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation challenge card check laws in New York and California, and a California Court of Appeal reaffirms San Francisco city workers’ right to strike.

On Tuesday, at a hearing weighing the American Federation of Government Employee’s (AFGE) request for a preliminary injunction against the TSA’s termination of the collective bargaining agreement covering TSA employees, AFGE lawyer Abigail Carter argued that “the pattern of antagonism against AFGE for its First Amendment activities demonstrates retaliatory intent, and evidence of such a pattern supports causation.” According to AFGE, the Trump administration’s reasons for eliminating TSA workers’ collective bargaining rights are pretext for retaliation against unions that have challenged the administration and amount to a violation of the union’s First Amendment rights. While TSA is exempted from Title 5 of the US Code, lawyers for the government argued that Judge Marsha Pechman of the District Court for the Western District of Washington lacked jurisdiction because the union had not first challenged the agency action under the Federal Labor Relations Authority, which governs federal agencies covered by Title 5.

Agricultural workers assisted by the National...

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