Previously, I have mentioned the no confidence vote that the Border Patrol took, regarding chief David Aguilar. Now, this
(Washington Times) The National Border Patrol Council has filed an unfair labor practices complaint against U.S. Border Patrol Chief David V. Aguilar, saying he sought to "intimidate" field agents in an effort to discredit a "no-confidence" vote by the union’s leadership.
The Federal Labor Relations Authority complaint, brought by NBPC Vice President George E. McCubbin III, said Chief Aguilar "willfully and blatantly" violated federal guidelines when he sent a top aide to seek a "show of hands" among field agents for those who supported the chief in the wake of the no-confidence vote.
Representing all 11,000 of the Border Patrol’s nonsupervisory personnel, the NBPC said rank-and-file agents were targeted at the beginning-of-shift "musters" in stations throughout the Tucson, Ariz., Border Patrol sector and asked whether they had confidence in Chief Aguilar’s leadership abilities.
The complaint said some agents also were approached by field managers and asked the same question in what it described as an effort "designed to intimidate employees."
The agents have every right to be upset. Aguilar appears to be promoting the idiotic policies of the Bush administration regarding illegal immigration, and that is not what the agents signed up for. They are upset over Aguilar’s stance regarding agents such as Ramos and Compean, jailed for doing their jobs.
The vote accused the chief of "shamelessly promoting" Bush administration proposals for a guest-worker program that would "reward illegal aliens and endanger field agents," and noted a "growing frustration among front-line employees with the misguided policies and politics" of the agency and the refusal of its top managers — including the chief — to speak out against them.
Government officials talk about getting tough on illegals and guarding the borders, but then do not allow the actual serving agents to do that. And, while I am no big fan of some unions, this is the kind of protection that they were created for.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner W. Ralph Basham, who oversees the Border Patrol, has endorsed Chief Aguilar and called the no-confidence vote "derisive, detrimental and blatantly unfair." He said he did not think rank-and-file agents had lost confidence in the chief.
What was that old Mark Twain quote about denial?
Meanwhile, make sure you head over to Grassfire and sign the petition to tell Congress you oppose their amnesty bills.
Wait, you need to go back to the first line of the first quote. The border patrol is run by a union? I think I may have just found the problem in border security.
They need to let the agents actually DO the job they’re paid to do instead of screwing with every little thing.
You got that right. I was a little surprised that they were unionized, but, for a change, the union was doing what its purpose should be: protecting the workers from management.
Mark Twain said the French are governed by prostitutes. We are governed by pimps, prostitutes and special interest socialists.