Biden clears out Trump's FSIP appointees
By
Natalie Alms
Federal employee groups and unions had requested that Biden remove the panel's members.
President Joe Biden has pushed out Trump nominees on a federal board charged with resolving disputes in union negotiations with agencies.
Biden requested that the 10 members of the Federal Services Impasses Panel resign yesterday. Those who did not resign were fired at the end of the day, FCW confirmed. The news was first reported by Government Executive.
The panel, part of the Federal Labor Relations Authority, has been the subject of lawsuits brought by unions alleging that the appointments of its board members were unconstitutional because they weren't Senate-confirmed.
"FSIP panel members are presidential appointees and the White House is well within its right to dismiss the previous administration's appointees," said Tony Reardon, national president of the National Treasury Employees Union, in a statement. "The FSIP is supposed to be comprised of members who are qualified, experienced, fair and neutral. The Trump-appointed panel was none of those things, and its record of nearly always siding with agency management, notwithstanding the record before it, proved its bias."
The American Federation of Government Employees also cheered the news.
"We look forward to President Biden’s future picks issuing just decisions, unencumbered by political interference," AFGE president Everett Kelley said in a statement.