The union representing about 30,000 Bureau of Prisons employees has asked a federal judge to hold the agency in contempt, alleging it has failed to restore a collective bargaining agreement as ordered.
The National Council of Prison Locals filed the request on October 6, a week after US District Judge Vernon Oliver in Connecticut granted its application for a preliminary injunction against the bureau.
Judge Oliver ruled that the union was likely to succeed in arguing that the Bureau of Prisons had breached the Administrative Procedure Act when it ended the agreement. He ordered the agency to reinstate the Bureau of Prisons collective bargaining agreement immediately.
Union lawyers now allege that prison leaders have continued to block normal union activities, including the use of official union time and representation for employees facing disciplinary action.
In one case described in the contempt filing and an accompanying sworn statement, an employee facing dismissal asked to have a shop steward present at a meeting. A Bureau of Prisons official allegedly replied: “There ain’t no union.” The employee was dismissed on October 5, according to the filing.
The union also alleges that William Marshall, the Bureau of Prisons director, told staff on September 29 that he did not intend to enforce the agreement unless he received direct instructions from the White House. That claim has not been tested in court.
“They have not restored union office space or official time, allowed for union representation in disciplinary proceedings, or taken any of the other myriad specific steps that Defendants themselves told the court would be required if the court entered the requested injunction,” the union’s lawyers wrote.
They described the agency’s alleged failure to comply as “total”. American Federation of Government Employees Local 1237, which represents staff at FCI Mendota, separately alleged that management at the facility had locked union officials out of their offices.
The Bureau of Prisons declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation.
The Justice Department has not formally applied to suspend Judge Oliver’s September 29 ruling. On October 2, however, it filed a notice of compliance saying the bureau was aware of the order and was “complying with its terms”.
At the same time, the department said it did not interpret the ruling as preventing the Bureau of Prisons from attempting to terminate the collective bargaining agreement again before it expires in May 2028. It also said it did not expect the district court to supervise “every alleged failure” by the agency to comply with the agreement.
Dispute over Bureau of Prisons union agreement
Marshall ended the agreement on September 25 2025, saying the union was an “obstacle to progress” and was not the “kind of union” he could support.
The move followed a March 2025 executive order from President Donald Trump seeking to exclude federal offices involved in national security or intelligence work from collective bargaining agreements. The order also covered the Justice Department, which includes the Bureau of Prisons.
Despite the order, the bureau allowed the union to continue operating for around six months before ending the agreement. Marshall did not cite national security as the reason for his decision.
