Union Letter To NASA MSFC Employees

Keith’s note: the following email and attached memo was sent to NASA MSFC employees by the president of the Marshall Engineers and Scientists Association (MESA) [Update: The union asked me to edit out email addresses etc. so I did. They also asked that I take it offline but given that it is “in the wild” and has been sent to me multiple times – and it is inherently newsworthy- it remains online.] “All, Yesterday afternoon MESA received official notification from MSFC Center Director Pelfrey that MSFC will comply with Executive Order 14343 – Further Exclusions From the Federal Labor-Management Relations Program (link below). This may be the last email I am able to send to you in this fashion as one of your union representatives as MSFC is choosing to comply with the President’s determination that your jobs are primarily “intelligence, counterintelligence, investigatory, or national security” in nature. Therefore, MSFC will be canceling our labor contract, which was ratified by MESA membership and approved by NASA last year (link also below). Please see the attached for a more detailed message that I encourage you to forward to your personal emails for reading/reviewing when you’re in a non-duty status (off the clock)”. More below

Link to EO14343: https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2025-16924

Link to MSFC-MESA Collective Bargaining Agreement: https://www.opm.gov/cba/api/documents/f86d5d4a-fda5-4391-b190-823ab771400a/attachments/MSFC%20and%20MESA-IFPTE%20Local%2027%20Collective%20Bargaining%20Agreement%204NOV2024%20Final%200PM%20002 pdf

If I face consequences for this communication, please know that I do so for striving to fulfill the union’s duty of fair representation to all of you.

A union is when two or more employees work together collectively to improve the conditions of their employment – the collectively bargained agreement (i.e., contract) is nice but it is not everything.

The union will continue to be available at [REDACTED AT UNION REQUEST] to support each and every one of you as best we can.

Please write to us from your “personal” email if you’d like to be added to our mailing list or want to help out.

Additionally, we’ll be hosting a Happy Hour tonight at [REDACTED AT UNION REQUEST] if you’d prefer to have that discussion in person.

Ad Aster Per Aspera Et Solidariate,
MESA Jared Leggett President, IFPTE Local 27
Marshall Engineers and Scientists Association

12 September 2025

To: All MSFC/MAF employees represented by MESA (NCC 200 or 700 series, BUS code 1560) Subject: Update in Response to Recent Executive Order and Agency Guidance All,

Shortly after my last update to you on 28 August 2025, the President signed Executive Order (EO) 14343 “Further Exclusions From the Federal Labor-Management Relations Program, ”¹, wherein the President declared that NASA was an agency “determined to have as a primary function intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work.” This list includes other agencies such as the National Weather Service (NWS), the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). The significance of this determination is straightforward – under 5 USC §7112(b)(6)², employees “engaged in intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or security work which directly affects national security” are not eligible for inclusion in a collective bargaining unit and therefore ineligible for formal union representation. While it is not confirmed within the text of the EO, federal unions believe this is retaliation for lawsuits filed in response to EO 14251³ issued earlier this year^4,5,6 .

You may ask what this means for you – I shall explain. Collective bargaining is the formal means by which groups of employees negotiate improvements to their working conditions through the vehicle of a union that results in a written and binding collective bargaining agreement (i.e., union contract). This representation enables negotiations above us as individuals and instead as a class (think class-action). Through this process, MESA has collectively bargained towards:

• The creation of the Exchange (indirectly) and the Childcare Center (directly) (in the 80s) • Ensuring the Childcare Center is run by employees and not a for-profit third party (in the 90s) • Inclusion of the MaxiFlex work schedule (originally called “FlexiTour”), starting in the mid-70s. • Notification, consultation rights, and an outplacement program to support employees impacted by a Reduction-In-Force (RIF)⁷

It should be noted that, since 1978, it has been law that “labor organizations and collective bargaining in the civil service are in the public interest” (5 USC §7101(2)). This is because a well-represented and respected civil service is a better civil service, with higher morale and productivity, higher willingness to go above and beyond, and a deeper investment in their teams, missions, and communities.

While we may not be able to negotiate things like wages or health benefits as a federal sector union, we have always done what we can to help in what ways we can. This includes formal means, such as representing employees in Weingarten Meetings, conducting investigations, filing complaints, and concurring with or requesting to bargain over proposed changes in working conditions.⁸ This also includes informal means, such as lending an ear to your stresses, offering career advice, explaining benefits, assisting you with reasonable accommodation requests or FMLA applications, bringing new opportunities to your attention, and generally doing what we can to take care of each other. Until this year there was not as pressing a need for us to try to be as visible in recent history as we have been lately, so it’s no surprise that many are still surprised to find that there is a union representing you. That is a testimony to the past work of many MSFC retirees and other former co-workers to make MSFC the great place to work we have enjoyed and invested ourselves in for years. We are committed to our duty of fair representation to all of you, but due to this EO and the legal challenges thereto making their way through the courts, how we do that may have to change.

Before I go any further, and if you have not already done so, make sure to download your eOPF (https://opf.opm/gov) and send it to your personal (non-work) email address. This is so that you can show that your bargaining unit status code is 1560 – which is the ID for the MESA bargaining unit – if and when we need to challenge your misclassification as 8888. You should also download all your other personnel files (e.g., position description, pay and leave balances, &c) for similar reasons. I also ask you to send us an email at [REDACTED AT UNION REQUEST] from your personal (non-work) email address, if you have not previously, so that we can communicate off government IT. This is completely optional on your part. While our contract does permit limited use of MSFC IT for authorized purposes, including representation, this may be the last time I am “authorized” to communicate with you in this fashion for the foreseeable future.

Furthermore, if you have not already received it, expect a notification of personnel action for your eOPF. It should be to change the entry of Box 37 (Bargaining Unit Status or BUS Code) from 1560 (MESA’s BU ID) to 8888, which means “ineligible for union representation,” due to the Presidential determination. The practical or day-to-day effect for most employees is going to be that if you are called into a disciplinary or investigatory formal meeting (unlikely but would be scheduled, conference room or office, HR//HS01 or Protective Services//AS50 personnel will be in attendance), and you ask for your union representative to be present before proceeding, they may say that you no longer have the right to union representation. In that case, take notes (preferably handwritten) and notify your steward immediately thereafter (or ping us at [REDACTED AT UNION REQUEST]) so we can take appropriate actions. Please make sure all your civil servant coworkers know this as well. In an emergency, you are always free to contact me at [REDACTED AT UNION REQUEST].

Additionally, to those of you who are dues-paying members via SF1187, we have been informed that the paycheck deductions will be canceled – that is what happened to unions who were targeted by March’s Executive Order as well. Make sure we have your personal (non-work) email address so that we can coordinate alternative means of paying dues. We do not know for sure yet when this will happen, but in the spirit of “hope for the best, prepare for the worst,” we must consider it to be happening soon.

Some of you may – rightfully – be asking what MESA is doing about all this. We will still be here. We will continue to provide advice, assistance, and support – it will just have to be during your lunch break, after hours, or on weekends. We are training new stewards and building multiple committees to focus on various aspects of our representational duties – keeping you informed, helping organize local support networks, conducting surveys, advocating on your behalf to management and elected representatives, and coordinating with our partners in the North Alabama Area Labor Council (NAALC), the NASA Council of IFPTE Locals (NCIL), and the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE). In fact, I am traveling to DC next week to advocate on your and our coworkers’ behalf in collaboration with our NCIL and IFPTE union siblings.

For those of you who asking if there’s a way for you to help us – yes! Quite frankly, there’s a lot we could use help with. We still need to be kept aware of what’s going on in your work units – so continue communication regarding anything that affects your working conditions or ability to work, lingering concerns or needs, and especially if you receive any notification of any formal changes (e.g., eOPF updates, changes in your work schedules, details/transfers and/or reassignments, or even a RIF notice, should that unlikely event occur). Remind all your civil servant coworkers that they should still request their union representative be present if they’re called into a meeting that may lead to discipline or investigation (Weingarten Rights) and to tell us when they say no. Additionally, we have several committees that need help gathering and verifying relevant information and disseminating communications to keep ourselves and all of you informed going forward. We’ll also need help assisting people with things like Reasonable Accommodation requests and applying for FMLA.

Some of you may even be good candidates for a steward role and would consider being active support to those in your local work groups – one of our most challenging and critical positions. Even without a title, something that we all can do is continue to look out for and support each other when a need arises. A union is not a charter or contract; it is whenever two or more employees act together to improve their working conditions. ⁹

If you’d like to know more, write us an email, call, or send me a text. If your schedule permits, you can also join us tonight at 18:00 for a Happy Hour at [REDACTED AT UNION REQUEST]¹⁰ – it’s got a patio and you’re more than welcome to bring friends and family to join, too.

The Center Director has announced an All-Hands later this month – Tuesday, 23 September at 13:00. Please join us in wearing something red if you can attend in-person as part of the Red-For-Feds solidarity action, something started by our coworkers at GSFC. You won’t need to say anything or do anything that you would not ordinarily do at an All-Hands – it’s just a way to show that we are here.

Ad Astra Per Aspera Et Solidariate,
-Jared Leggett
MESA/IFPTE L27, President
[REDACTED AT UNION REQUEST]

¹ Executive Order 14343, “Further Exclusions From the Federal Labor-Management Relations Program.” 28 August 2025. URL: https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2025-16924
² Federal Labor Management Relations Statute. URL: https://www.flra.gov/resources-training/resources/statute-and-regulations/statute
³ Executive order 14251, “Exclusions From the Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs.” 27 March 2025. URL: https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2025-05836
⁴ A copy of the filing may be found here: https://aflcio.org/sites/default/files/2025-07/1%20-%20Complaint.pdf
⁵ AFGE’s statement: https://www.afge.org/publication/largest-federal-employee-union-blasts-trump-administrations-further-attack-on-federal-employees-union-rights/
⁶ IFPTE’s statement: https://www.ifpte.org/news/ifpte-condemns-trump-administrations-latest-attack-on-federal-workers-and-their-unions
⁷ See Article 30 – Reductions In Force – of the MSFC-MESA Collective Bargaining Agreement. URL: https://www.opm.gov/cba/api/documents/f86d5d4a-fda5-4391- b190-823ab771400a/attachments/MSFC%20and%20MESA- IFPTE%20Local%2027%20Collective%20Bargaining%20Agreement%204NOV2024%20Final%20OPM%20002.pdf
⁸ Many of you have received check-ins from us about proposed moves and relocations, for example.
⁹ Paraphrasing the Department of Labor’s definition of a labor union as “a group of two or more employees who join together to advance common interests such as
wages, benefits, schedules, and other employment terms and conditions.” URL: https://beta.dol.gov/policy-governance/protections-rights/unions-collective-bargaining
¹⁰ [REDACTED AT UNION REQUEST]