Luis Antonio Flores has worked at the Environmental Protection Agency for five years. He’s a lab chemist based in Chicago, monitoring and testing air, water and soil samples to make sure the public stays safe.
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Last week, the EPA canceled its collective bargaining agreement with the union representing workers like Flores nationwide for “national security” purposes — a move he called “absurd.”
“We’ve been doing this for decades,” Flores said. “The federal workforce has protected workers rights, so the premise that these are somehow … posing a danger to national security is just demonstrably false.”
Dozens of EPA workers, public officials and supporters protested the agency’s cancellation of its union contracts at Federal Plaza in the Loop Tuesday afternoon, voicing concerns that the move could further endanger federal employees and environmental health.
The EPA canceled its contract with the American Federation of Government Employees Friday, according to a newsletter from the union’s Council 238, which represents more than 8,000 agency workers across the country. Politico’s E&E News reported the agency also canceled its contracts with the National Association of Government Employees, Engineers and Scientists of California, and the National Association of Independent Labor.
In March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing several federal agencies to end their collective bargaining contracts to “enhance the national security of the United States.” Those include the EPA and Department of Veterans Affairs, which terminated its contract with thousands of union employees last week, according to a news release.
In the short term, the EPA cancellation means union leaders can’t use official time for their representational work and “articles of the contract will no longer be respected by management,” AFGE Council 238 President Justin Chen wrote in the Friday newsletter.
U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss and Chicago labor leaders attended the rally in support of the unions. They called for the public to support the unions — in part by passing legislation to reinstate federal workers cut by the Trump administration and nullify Trump’s March executive order.
“We need you now more than ever,” Quigley, a Democrat, said to the workers at the rally.
Since Trump took office, the EPA’s Region 5 office, which covers several Great Lakes states, has lost crucial personnel, said AFGE Local 704 President Nicole Cantello, whose union represents over 1,000 EPA workers in the Midwest. The air enforcement group has lost about a dozen members since Jan. 20, and the legal office’s staff has also decreased by about a third — 31 people, Cantello said.
Those cuts hinder the EPA’s core functions, especially because legal action is often necessary to punish polluters and initiate cleanups, Cantello said. With EPA employees conducting 10 to 15 inspections annually, she estimates there could be about 150 fewer air quality checks this year.
In a statement, EPA officials said they believe the agency has adequate resources to perform its mission. “Across the agency, we are confident EPA has the resources needed to accomplish the agency’s core mission of protecting human health and the environment, fulfill all statutory obligations, and make the best-informed decisions based on the gold standard of science,” an EPA spokesperson said in an email.
Nationwide, EPA staff has decreased by about 2,300 employees due to the federal government’s Deferred Resignation Program since January, the spokesperson added.
Cantello told protesters at Tuesday’s rally that the Trump administration canceled the contract to “silence” the union. “They wanted us to stop talking about how they favored polluters and profits over your public health,” she said.
Without the protections and processes outlined in the contract — including formal grievance processes and representation guarantees in disciplinary matters — it becomes “10 times harder” to fight for employees being treated unfairly by the government, said Flores, who is also a union steward.
Flores and Cantello also said many of their colleagues were placed on administrative leave after signing a letter of dissent criticizing EPA leadership’s undermining of public trust and disregard for scientific consensus. In recent months, the EPA has said it would revisit its limits on asbestos use and PFAS “forever chemicals” in drinking water — both of which have links to cancer.
The lack of contract could make it more difficult for employees to speak out against what Cantello, Flores and other protesters called conclusions to fit Trump’s political agenda.
“The union is trying to be the backstop to say, ‘Your science is junk, your agenda is junk and it’s not going to protect human health or the environment,’” said Colin Kramer, an EPA worker and union member.
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Cantello said the union will have to acclimate to the contract cancellation, especially given how an appeals court lifted an injunction of Trump’s March executive order Aug. 1. She said she’s expecting more staffing cuts at her office, which she said will make EPA workers’ jobs even harder.
“We’re just waiting for the other shoe to drop,” Cantello said.