Texas National Guard Troops First to Attempt to Unionize While on Active Duty 

DEL RIO, Texas — At least six National Guardsmen serving on state active-duty orders are working with the Texas State Employees Union to try to unionize troops.

Members of the Texas National Guard assigned to Operation Lone Star are organizing under the Texas State Employees Union’s Military Caucus, according to the Army Times. Although federal law makes it a felony for members of the armed forces to form a labor organization, the statute only applies to service members on active federal duty orders.

Operation Lone Star was launched last March by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the Department of Public Safety to combat drug and human trafficking across the state’s southern border. However, the large-scale nature of the operation and the issues that have plagued it — such as pay problems and living conditions — led the National Guard members to unionize.

Abbott said the operation was initiated as a response to the Biden administration’s failure to address the surge of migrant border crossings, although federal border patrol activities by Customs and Border Protection are underway. Federal border patrol agents are still ineligible to participate in union activities.

Department of Justice officials said in a court filing in January that members of the National Guard could unionize after Connecticut National Guard members on active state duty sought to obtain collective bargaining rights just as state civilian employees can. The troops are the first active-duty guard members to attempt to join an organized union.

Typically, guard members are deployed for short-term stints with clear, end-of-mission requirements, like natural disaster response, but Operation Lone Star has proven to be an exception. In January, the Texas Military Department issued a statement addressing reported problems with the guard members’ payment and living conditions while also addressing the deaths of soldiers deployed to the border under the program.

TMD reported nine suicides by soldiers in 2021, and six soldier deaths have been tied to Operation Lone Star. The TMD report also addressed hardship request denials, poor equipment and the swift deployment of guard members associated with the program — some of whom were deployed involuntarily.

In the report, Col. Rita Holton of the TMD said reports generated from anonymous sources and unverified documents were skewed by the media to “push an agenda.” Civil rights groups, including the ACLU of Texas, have called for investigations into the program by the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security.

The soldier leading organization efforts remains anonymous due to fears of retaliation from TMD leadership. The Texas State Employees Union’s Military Caucus is scheduled to convene its first meeting next week according to the Army Times.  

Reece can be reached at [email protected]