Feds: Guard on state duty can unionize

The Department of Justice has given the green light to National Guard members on active duty for their states to join labor unions, despite a U.S. law that makes it a felony for military personnel on active federal duty to unionize.

The department on Tuesday settled a federal lawsuit filed in Connecticut by labor unions, having conceded the federal ban does not stop Connecticut National Guard members on state duty ordered by the governor from seeking collective bargaining rights. Both sides agreed to a dismissal of the case.

Already, the case has prompted some National Guard members in Texas to unionize.

A 1978 federal law makes it a criminal felony for members of the armed forces, including the National Guard, to join or attempt to form a labor organization.

But the statute only applies to service members when they are on active federal duty ordered by U.S. military officials, according to the Veterans Legal Services Clinic at Yale Law School, which represented the unions in the lawsuit, filed in November.

“Before this case, unions were understandably deterred from organizing state active duty National Guard members due to the potential for criminal penalties,” Rekha Kennedy, a Yale law student working for the clinic, said.