Northwest labor press., October 05, 2018, Page 20, Image 20

PAGE 20 | October 5, 2018 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
NATIONAL
Trump to appeal ruling striking
down anti-union executive orders
The Trump Administration on
Sept. 25 announced it will ap-
peal a federal judge’s ruling that
struck down Trump executive
orders aimed at weakening fed-
eral employee union representa-
tion and making it easier to fire
federal employees.
The three executive orders,
which President Donald Trump
signed May 25:
▪ bar federal employee union officers from
spending more than a quarter of their paid
time on union responsibilities; cut by two
thirds the total union paid-time hours to
one hour per employee per year; and
charge commercial market rates when
union officers use meeting rooms, phones,
and computers.
▪ replace longstanding federal worker job
security protections with something more
like an “at will” work environment, in
which federal agency managers can
terminate employees for performance
issues after 30 days, don’t have to use
“progressive discipline” or be consistent in
how they discipline employees, and don’t
have to consider seniority in the event of a
layoff.
▪ order agency directors to renegotiate
union contracts to increase management
authority to “reward high performers” and
“hold low-performers accountable,” and to
bargain for no more than a year before
unilaterally implementing management
proposals.
The three orders violate the
spirit and letter of the 1978 Fed-
eral Service Labor-Management
Relations Statute, which governs
labor relations in the federal
civilian workplace. Presidents
are responsible for implement-
ing laws, not making them up.
So the American Federation
of Government Employees
(AFGE) and three other federal
employees unions filed a lawsuit
May 30 asking that the order
slashing paid union time be
struck down by a federal court.
On Aug. 25, Judge Ketanji
Brown Jackson of the U.S. Dis-
trict Court for the District of Co-
lumbia ruled mostly in favor
with the union, striking down
key provisions of the orders.
Now, AFGE v. Trump will go
before the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the D.C. Circuit.
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Labor Industry Division Manager
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