The U.S. Bureau of Prisons this week asked a federal judge to clarify whether a preliminary injunction blocking the agency from terminating its union contracts allows management to propose a new justification for the action.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Vernon Oliver issued a court order reinstating the American Federation of Government Employees Council of Prison Locals’, ruling that BOP Director William Marshall offered two contradictory reasonings in his September 2025 implementation of President Trump’s executive order banning collective bargaining for most federal workers: the official notice, which mirrored the president’s national security determination, and a message to employees in which he described AFGE as not the “kind of union” he supports.
But a week later, amid reports that the agency was in “open defiance” of the injunction, BOP management announced that it had issued a new termination notice and rescinded Marshall’s 2025 message to employees. Last week, Oliver nullified that order, ruling that management improperly engaged in “self help” rather than asking the judge to modify or rescind the injunction, but stopped short of the union’s call for leadership to be held in contempt.
In response, on Tuesday BOP asked Oliver to either clarify that his order permits the agency to move forward with its new termination notice, or modify the order to reflect it. Attorneys for the agency said that while the injunction mandates management honor the CBA for its agreed upon term,” a new justification requires new judicial analysis under the Administrative Procedure Act.
“The October 2026 rescission of the prior termination and messaging and attempted re-termination decision addresses the court’s prior concerns with the September 2025 termination and specifically explains hat to the extent the director’s September 2025 message (or any other communication) stated or implied that the termination of the CBA was not for the purposes related to Executive Order 14251, such statements or implications were rescinded,” the attorneys wrote. “The October 2026 decision on proposed re-termination also includes a thorough analysis of the impact of collective bargaining on BOP’s ability to execute its national security mission.”
BOP’s move to get the legal go-ahead to terminate its CBAs again comes as union officials bemoan continued “feet dragging” by management on the reimplementation of those contracts. AFGE CPL-33 President Brandy Moore White said she has seen a mix of compliance and non-compliance from across the agency’s around 120 correctional institutions, with most bright spots coming in the form of token gestures rather than the restoration of workplace policies.
“Some regions seem like they’re somewhat complying, but others not so much,” she said. “My overall view is that they’re trying to appease us with official time, and a few little things like access to disciplinary hearings. But the big ticket times, like compressed work schedules, I haven’t seen much of that come back yet.”
Aaron McGlothin, president of AFGE Local 1237, which represents employees at Federal Correctional Institution Mendota in rural California, said he has encountered nothing but stonewalling from Acting Warden E. Gutierrez and labor-management staff.
“It’s been three weeks and two different orders by the judge, so why are you dragging your feet?” he said. “All I ever hear is, ‘We’ll have to get back to you.’ Our staff is so fed up with being spun, with being lied to, and being treated like just dogshit.”
Prior to the CBA termination last year, policies like compressed work schedules, in which an employee elects to work four 10-hour shifts per week rather commute five days a week, were a lifeline for a workforce that largely commutes from an hour away or more to the prison. McGlothin said its absence is hurting workers’ morale and wallets simultaneously.
“The staff are begging me to form a protest and start a picket line outside, to show that management’s not working in good faith and they refuse to obey the letter of the law,” he said. “With this compressed work schedule thing, the cost of gas around here is almost $7 per gallon here now, and [with the end of retention incentive payments] last year, we’ve lost 15% of our pay. We can barely make ends meet.”
In a filing opposing BOP’s request for an expedited briefing schedule on its request, the union said it is preparing an amended complaint that would incorporate the agency’s actions over the last month. The agency must file a report with the court detailing its effort to comply with the injunction by Oct. 28.
