An Executive Order issued before Labor Day excluded USPTO patents unit and OCIO employees from joining POPA and NTEU 243, effectively barring certain patent employees from union membership. POPA and the National Weather Service Employees Organization filed a complaint seeking restoration of collective voice for affected public servants. POPA alleges the exclusions were driven by political retaliation, noting the units were first omitted from exemptions and later excluded after robust opposition to administration policies. The Order is titled 'Further Exclusions from the Federal Labor-Management Relations Program' and purports to enhance national security. POPA cites grievances filed with the Federal Labor Relations Authority.
As it announced it would yesterday, the Patent Office Professionals Association (POPA) joined the National Weather Service Employees Organization in bringing a complaint against President Donald Trump, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, Acting Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Laura Grimm and Acting USPTO Director Coke Morgan Stewart "to restore the collective voice of the public servants they represent," according to the lawsuit.
"The fact that the POPA and NWSEO bargaining units were not included among the first tranche of exemptions in the March Executive Order but were excluded after they engaged in robust opposing to the Defendants' policies, evinces that national security concerns were not the motivation for their exclusion." - POPA complaint The union that has represented patent examiners and other professionals at the U.S. Patent
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