代表环境保护局（EPA）8000多名员工的工会于周二对该机构及署长李·泽尔丁（Lee Zeldin）提起诉讼，指控该机构非法终止了工会的集体谈判协议。
The union representing more than 8,000 workers at the Environmental Protection Agency filed a lawsuit against the agency and administrator Lee Zeldin on Tuesday alleging the agency illegally terminated the union’s collective bargaining agreement.
该诉讼由美国政府雇员联合会（AFGE）的两个地方分会提起，诉状称该机构未能为终止合同提供正当理由，其动机是出于压制政治异见的渴望，这侵犯了员工的第一修正案权利。
The lawsuit, filed by two local unions of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), claims the agency failed to justify the contract’s termination and was motivated by a desire to repress political dissent, a violation of the employees’ first amendment rights.
诉讼指出：“在敬业的公务员……每天努力推进该机构保护人类健康和环境的使命的同时，该机构却背弃了他们，非法取消了他们的职场保护并压制了他们的言论自由权。”
“While the dedicated civil servants … are working hard every day to advance the Agency’s mission to protect human health and the environment, the Agency has turned its back on them, unlawfully eliminating their workplace protections and stifling their free speech rights,” the lawsuit said.
环保局于2025年8月终止了该集体谈判协议，理由是唐纳德·特朗普在该年早些时候签署了一项行政命令，试图取消超过100万联邦雇员的集体谈判协议。工会正寻求通过法院恢复该工会合同。
The EPA terminated the collective bargaining agreement in August 2025, citing Donald Trump’s executive order earlier that year that sought to eliminate collective bargaining agreements for more than 1 million federal workers. The union is seeking a court to restore the union contract.
该合同于2024年6月生效，原本预计持续到2028年6月。其中包含一项科学完整性条款，旨在保护该机构的员工免受报复。
The contract went into effect in June 2024 and was supposed to last through June 2028. It included a scientific integrity provision aimed to protect workers at the agency from retaliation.
AFGE第238理事会主席贾斯汀·陈（Justin Chen）表示，工会成员之所以担任公务员，是因为他们相信该机构的使命并愿意服务公众。
Justin Chen, president of AFGE Council 238, said the union’s members work as civil servants because they believe in the agency’s mission and in serving the public.
陈说：“他们坚信自己所从事的工作。当他们被封口且没有任何权利时，他们将无法服务美国公众，无法做好本职工作，也无法履行该机构的使命。”环保局拒绝置评，并援引了不对未决诉讼进行评论的长期惯例。
“They believe in the kind of work that they do,” Chen said. “When they’re gagged and have no rights, they’re unable to serve the American public, they can’t do their jobs and they can’t serve the agency’s mission.”The EPA declined to comment, citing a longstanding practice on not commenting on pending litigation.
本月早些时候，一名仲裁员在另一起案件中作出了有利于美国环境保护署（EPA）员工的裁决。该案件涉及当地工会 AFGE Local 704 的成员；这些员工因签署了公开反对该机构决策的书面文件而受到 EPA 的纪律处分，这一行为违反了工会的集体谈判协议。尽管有电子邮件显示 EPA 的高级律师曾警告该机构此举可能带来法律风险，EPA 仍坚持对员工进行处分。
Earlier this month, an arbitrator ruled in favor of EPA workers in a separate local union, AFGE Local 704, over the EPA’s discipline of 139 workers who signed an open dissent letter, in violation of the union’s collective bargaining agreement. The EPA disciplined the workers despite emails revealing a top EPA attorney warned the agency about its legal risk.
仲裁员命令 EPA 删除这些员工的纪律处分记录，向他们支付拖欠的工资，并承担工会律师的费用。
The arbitrator ordered the agency to wipe the workers’ records, provide them with back pay and cover the union’s attorney fees.
自 2025 年 1 月特朗普上任以来，约有 4,000 名员工通过辞职、提前退休或被裁员的方式离开了 EPA，导致该机构的员工人数减少至约 12,700 人。
Since Trump took office in January 2025, about 4,000 workers have left the EPA through resignations, early retirements and layoffs, reducing the agency’s workforce to about 12,700 employees.
“坦率地说，保护我的成员对于建立一个高效、公正的公务员体系以及保护美国公众的利益至关重要，”陈（Chen）表示。
“The protection of my members is incredibly important and paramount, quite frankly, to an effective civil service [and for] protecting the American public,” Chen said.