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June 15, 2018 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
NORTHWEST
LABOR
PRESS
...Trump slashes federal workers’ union rights
From Page 1
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tional responsibilities using paid
work time. The amount of paid
time they may use is supposed to
be “reasonable, necessary and in
the public interest,” and is to be
negotiated between the union
and the employing agency. Paid
time can’t be used to conduct
union-specific business like so-
liciting members, holding union
meetings, electing union offi-
cers, or engaging in political ac-
tivities. AFGE argues that paid
time saves taxpayers in the long
run because it helps resolve
workplace conflicts before they
become costly, agency-wide
problems.
Under the laws passed by
Congress, federal government
workplaces are open shops, akin
to “right-to-work,” in that union
membership and dues are
strictly voluntary matters, and
yet unions are obligated to de-
fend all employees, whether
they’ve joined or not.
And federal workers already
have pretty limited union rights
compared to private sector
workers. They can’t strike, and
they can’t negotiate over wages
and benefits, which are set by
Congress. So their unions’ abil-
Some Congressional Republicans
have been making a political issue of
federal government union contracts
that let union officers represent
members on paid work time. The
House Oversight Committee even
held a May 24 hearing entitled
“Union Time on the People’s Dime.”
To set the record straight, AFGE ex-
plains the practice at afge.org/take-
action/campaigns/official-time/
ity to represent them when they
face discipline is one of the most
important union rights federal
workers do have.
That’s what Executive Order
13837 is aimed at. It severely
hampers unions’ ability to de-
fend workers facing discipline
— at the very same time that
Executive Order 13839 makes it
quicker and easier for federal
employees to be fired.
Trump, who famously made
“You’re fired” his signature
catch-phrase, asked Congress in
his February 2018 State of the
Union address for greater au-
thority to reward — or get rid of
— federal workers. Congress
hasn’t done that. Now Trump is
trying to do it on his own au-
thority.
Executive Order 13839
would tear up longstanding fed-
eral worker job security protec-
tions and replace them with
something more like an “at will”
work environment. Under the
order:
■ Managers at federal agencies don’t have to
use “progressive discipline” (a standard
union protection in which discipline
progresses from a verbal or written
warning to suspension or termination.)
■ Federal managers don’t have to be
consistent in how they discipline
employees: “Conduct that justifies
discipline of one employee at one time
does not necessarily justify similar
discipline of a different employee at a
different time,” the order says.
■ New hires have to go through a
“probationary” period as the final step in
the hiring process.
■ In the event of layoffs, seniority rights (a
union policy that reduces management’s
ability to reward favorites, and worker’s
motivation to kiss up) would be replaced
with manager-evaluated “performance”
ratings.
■ Managers could also terminate employees
for performance issues after 30 days.
[Currently, federal employees get at least
60 to 120 days to show they can meet
performance goals before being
terminated.]
A third order, Executive Or-
der 13836, directs federal agen-
cies to renegotiate their union
contracts to increase manage-
ment authority to “reward high
performers, hold low-perform-
ers accountable, or flexibly re-
spond to operational needs.” It
also says bargaining should not
take more than a year.
“This president seems to
think he is above the law, and
we are not going to stand by
while he tries to shred workers’
rights,” said AFGE president
Cox Sr., in a press statement an-
nouncing the lawsuit. “This is a
democracy, not a dictatorship.
No president should be able to
undo a law he doesn’t like
through administrative fiat.”
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