Trump likely to fight federal unions after taking office

As the new head of the federal workforce, President-elect Donald Trump has made clear his disdain for civil servants. he called them “crooked” and “dishonest” People who ‘destroy’ the country. He described them as conspiracy theorists’ “deep state.” And he promised: fire A lot will happen after he takes office next month.

Some of Trump’s tools for attacking the bureaucracy are well known. One is new creation. Department of Government EfficiencyAn advisory body led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy that recommends government cuts. Another thing is to pursue. Schedule FA proposal to reclassify tens of thousands of federal employees to make it easier for the Trump administration to remove them.

But these headline-grabbing plans tend to overshadow another goal of the incoming administration. That means weakening and, in some cases, even disbanding the federal sector unions that have protected public employees for decades.

Unlike private sector or local government unions, federal unions cannot directly bargain over worker wages. However, they still provide job security and can challenge the discipline set by supervisors. This has long made them a target of Trump’s policy advisers and Republicans.

Although Trump clearly hostile His picks for unions of all kinds during his first presidential term. pro-union Republican Party The Labor Secretary has strengthened hopes that his second attempt may be a little different. But unions operating in the federal space are concerned, especially as Trump shrinks the federal government. Measure Loyalty People who will serve under him.

Most people expect a Trump administration that will be better prepared and more ambitious than before, with a Republican-controlled Congress as well as a right-wing judiciary that is skeptical of both unions and the administrative state.

“This is a truly dangerous moment,” said Joseph McCartin, a labor historian at Georgetown University. chronology Ronald Reagan’s destruction of the air traffic controllers’ union. “I think the attitude will be very aggressive. “I would be surprised if they don’t challenge the very premise and operation of the (federal) union.”

Trump is likely to sign it after taking office. series of executive orders The goal is to weaken federal unions and make their functioning more difficult. Three orders have already been drafted. Trump signed the order 16 months into his first term as president. court battle About their legality.

“The blueprint for attacking federal unions and federal employees already exists,” said Cory Bythrow, executive director of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 800,000 federal workers. “And we expect them to distribute it right out of the gate, and then some.”

The executive order called for all union contracts to be renegotiated with “management rights” in mind and to make firings easier by reducing workers’ recourse during the disciplinary process. They also sought to physically evict unions from government buildings and reduce the use of “official time” during which union officials and officers, who are public servants, could represent union members while on the job.

Official time can only be used for ‘representative’ work such as handling grievances and attending labor-management council meetings, and the time given to the union is specified in the contract. The union says it will be difficult to get work done without formal hours. In particular, because federal workplaces are “open stores” under the law, employees cannot be required to pay dues even if they are included in their contracts.

Republicans and anti-union groups targeted After years of official time, they are considered a waste of taxpayers’ money. But like Schedule F, unions believe the real goal is to make union representation logistically more difficult, eliminating job protections and paving the way for layoffs.

“The idea is to weaken the defenses in the disciplinary (process),” said Matthew Biggs, president of the International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers, which includes members from NASA, the Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies. . “The intent is to fire people without due process or union protection.”

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A federal judge struck down key parts of Trump’s executive orders during his first term, but an appeals court later overturned that decision. (Biden rescinded the order after taking office.)

The union is expecting another legal battle. Project 2025, Transition Blueprint A report prepared by Trump allies said the biggest problem with anti-union executive orders from Trump’s first term was that they were issued too late.

Indeed, the very existence of Project 2025 suggests that this time the administration will be better organized and more ambitious in its efforts to reform the bureaucracy. (Trump tried to distance himself from the project during the campaign, but he filled his administration with authors.) The project was led by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that has long advocated for shrinking government and weakening unions.

John Hatton, director of policy and programs for the National Active and Retired Federal Employees, a group that advocates for federal workers, said Heritage types will likely have much more impact on policies in Trump’s second term than in his first. I predicted it was highly likely.

“I think there is a clearer plan this time than there was at the beginning of the first Trump administration,” Hatton said. “I think it’s much more likely that these organizations’ policies will be implemented this time.”

Union contracts could be a major obstacle to the layoffs and layoffs promised by Trump and his adviser Musk, the world’s richest man.

The administration could revisit its tactics from the incoming president’s first term. rewrite union contracts In favor of management. Federal unions have been working to close out new contracts in part to avoid such a scenario.

Union leaders also suspect the White House may try to end payroll deductions, a key method of union funding.

Republican lawmakers disappeared after that In some states, dues deductions for public sector unions have led unions to try to sign up members for credit card payments instead. Republicans in the House of Representatives proposed a bill It prohibits federal agencies and the U.S. Postal Service from deducting dues, even though it is the worker’s choice whether or not to approve the deduction.

These deductions are protected by statute, but Bythrow said he could see the Trump administration seeking to end them without action from Congress. He described that strategy as follows: “We’re going to do this… I’ll see you in court when you go bankrupt.”

But the administration could go beyond simply creating an administrative headache for unions and attack the very premise of collective bargaining for the federal workforce. As many Republicans have done for years: Project 2025 We urge lawmakers to reexamine “whether public unions are appropriate in the first place.”

federal unionism enshrined Enacted into law after the Jimmy Carter administration, it makes it difficult for Republicans to step down without a filibuster-proof Senate. But there are ways in which Trump could try to strip workers’ rights from certain institutions.

Not all departments allow collective bargaining under the law. There are exceptions for investigative, intelligence and national security work. The union is preparing for the government to move more departments under the ‘national security-sensitive’ banner, eliminating union rights and scrapping collective bargaining. Trump issued executive orders during his first term. reduction of rights From the Department of Defense; It was later canceled by Biden.

“We’re very concerned about that,” said Biggs, whose union represents IFPTE’s civilian employees. “We are preparing legal action against that type of potential effort.”

Project 2025 recommends “eliminating all unions” within the Department of Homeland Security. The bill singles out the Transportation Security Administration, along with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which oversees legal immigration processes, to “immediately dismantle.”

TSA workers are at risk of losing their union rights because union rights are not guaranteed under the law that created TSA, especially after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Former President Barack Obama’s administration first granted limited bargaining rights to TSA employees, and the Biden administration expanded this, but Trump was able to withdraw it without much difficulty.

Mike Gayzagian, a TSA employee and president of New England AFGE Local 2617, said collective bargaining has helped improve work at an agency notorious for its second-class status. low morale. The TSA agent lower salary They have higher pay than most federal employees did until last year, when the Biden administration’s actions resulted in pay increases of up to 30%.

Gayzagian doesn’t think cracking down on unions will help the agency retain employees, and he certainly hopes it’s not a priority for Trump officials.

“I’m worried about what’s going to happen next year,” Gayzagian said. “But we want to be at the bottom of the list.”