In today’s News and Commentary, a federal judge again halts the cancellation of the Bureau of Prisons’ CBA, and Dungeons & Dragons workers face roadblocks in union recognition.

On Friday, Judge Vernon Oliver of the District of Connecticut once again ordered the restoration of the CBA between the Federal Bureau of Prisons and its employees. Earlier this month, Judge Oliver granted the workers’ motion for a preliminary injunction against the Bureau, requiring Director William Marshall to reinstate the CBA which he unilaterally terminated under the contested authority of President Trump’s Executive Order. On October 7, just days after Judge Oliver issued the injunction, the Bureau again announced the termination of the CBA. The union requested that Judge Oliver hold the Bureau in contempt for defying his order. Employees claimed that, even before the Bureau announced its intent to re-terminate the agreement, the Bureau took no steps to reinstate the CBA, ordering its wardens to “do nothing” to facilitate its reimplementation. The Bureau argued that it had taken sufficient steps to reintroduce CBA procedures after the injunction was ordered, such as approving time requests, and that the second CBA cancellation was an entirely new agency action than what had been restricted by Judge Oliver’s preliminary injunction. Judge Oliver did not hold the Bureau in contempt, agreeing that adequate measures were taken to reinstate the CBA before it was re-terminated. However, he disagreed that the second CBA cancellation was a distinct administrative act, noting that the Bureau’s second attempt to re-terminate the agreement occurred while the parties were still waiting for a final judicial decision on the validity of the Bureau’s first unilateral CBA termination. Although the merits of the CBA cancellation under the authority of the Executive Order are yet to be determined, Judge Oliver’s new decision restricts the Bureau from attempting to ignore the CBA by using “new rationale” to perpetually evade its obligations under the court order.

Also this week, Wizards of the Coast (WOTC), the company behind tabletop games Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: the Gathering, announced it would not voluntarily recognize the Dungeons & Dragons team’s intent to join the United Wizards of the Coast Union (UWOTC). Formed in June under the CWA umbrella, UWOTC was elected with 83 percent approval by Magic: The Gathering Arena game developers after WOTC and its parent company, Hasbro, refused to voluntarily recognize the union. WOTC employees reported receiving letters from the company arguing that a union contract would be more “rigid” than the flexibility permitted under a “direct” employer-employee relationship. Following the successful unionization campaign of Magic: The Gathering Arena developers, employees in other WOTC studios, including the Dungeons & Dragons team and Studio X (“the catch-all group that includes most creative staff working on Magic: the Gathering”), announced their plans to join UWOTC on October 6. WOTC, the most profitable arm of Hasbro, released a copy of an email distributed to employees. The company indicated that, although it is “not neutral” on the unionization question, it would respect the results of a vote. Like their counterparts in the Magic: The Gathering Arena studio, the creative staffs of Dungeons & Dragons and Studio X are seeking to unionize not only to improve their working conditions, but also to bargain over the use of generative AI in their products.