In today’s news and commentary, the EPA terminates a contract with its second-largest union; Florida advances a bill restricting certain public sector unions; and the Trump administration seeks Supreme Court permission to terminate TPS for Haitian immigrants.

On Tuesday, the EPA announced the purported termination of its contract with the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), the second largest union representing EPA employees. As Politico E&E reports, the EPA announced the decision in an internal email sent to employees. As a result of the termination, the agency plans to stop approving work hours for union business, exit from the contract’s grievance procedures, and restrict the use of agency computers for union activity. The email cited President Trump’s Executive Order from last year as authority for the termination — that order has been subject to ongoing litigation, but federal guidance issued last month directed agencies to continue terminating contracts, including with the NTEU.

Meanwhile, yesterday the Florida Senate passed a bill that would restrict recertification of certain public sector unions. As Miriam wrote earlier this week, the bill would make it harder for unions to survive recertification votes by requiring that a majority of eligible bargaining unit members participate in the vote, not just that a majority of voters approve. Prior legislation in Florida has also targeted public sector unions, restricting their ability to deduct dues from paychecks and requiring that 60% of the bargaining unit pay dues to avoid a recertification vote. These bills have also prompted some accusations of partisan bias — though they claim to target “public sector unions,” they make exceptions for police and firefighter unions that often support Republican candidates. For the unions that are covered, one legislator described this latest bill as the “nail in the coffin.” Governor Ron DeSantis is expected to sign it into law.

Finally, the Trump administration asked for Supreme Court intervention yesterday in support of its attempt to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians immigrants. Litigation over TPS has been ongoing since the government purported to terminate it for several groups in February of last year; as Tamara wrote then, the decision not only exposes these immigrants to risk of deportation, but also results in the removal of many basic labor and employment protections. A federal district court blocked the TPS termination for Haitian immigrants last month, and last week the D.C. Circuit declined to stay the district court’s decision. The government’s application asks the Supreme Court to stay the district court’s decision and to accept the case for a ruling on the merits. The district court found that the termination was motivated, in part, by President Trump’s racially discriminatory animus; the stay application states that these kinds of animus claims “threaten[] to invalidate virtually every immigration policy of the current administration.”