President Donald Trump issued an executive order at the end of last week and recently jeopardized federal trade union contracts in an attempt to focus federal employees who had inked deals that teleworking.
This followed earlier efforts that are widely focused on telework.
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The push to finish remotely is a cornerstone of the new ‘Department of Government Efficiency’, run by billionaire and adviser Elon Musk van het Witte Huis. Musk wants to put an end to the telework for federal employees, partly to make federal employee jobs less inviting, to exhaust the civil service and to reduce the federal government. Some trade union contracts that were negotiated at the end of the Biden administration had protected and extended the ability of employees to work from home, sometimes for several years, which formed a barrier for the Trump agenda.
The full scope of the impact remains unclear, but legal experts say that the president does not have the authority to properly approve or cancel trade union contracts that are legally binding. This is what happened and what it means.
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What is this all about?
The Trump government has started a complete effort to shrink and re -make the federal workforce in its vision – sometimes by stretching the limits of the law. Musk previously promised “massive personnel reductions” of federal personnel and promised to contract the federal government, which employs around 2.3 million employees.
On his first day, Trump signed an executive order in the office, in which telephoto work was called to an end. Later that week, the White House of Agencies dedicated agencies to terminate their telephoto -work policy, a radical decree that officials estimate, can affect more than 1 million federal employees.
Before Trump took office, trade unions had embedded at some federal government agencies to secure trade union contracts, so that telework protection would be locked that they feared to disappear under the new administration.
Republicans launched attacks on trade union agreements that were secured under President Joe Biden for “Trump-proofing” of the executive power. Reps. James Comer (R-Kenskucky) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) said in a letter of 31 January that these contracts “unnecessarily infringe President Trump to exercise his broad authority to supervise the federal staff.”
Nevertheless, hurrying to protect trade union contracts is a common tactic used by trade unions at federal, national and local levels in the run -up to administrative changes – from mayors to governors to presidents, employment experts say. That practice is especially common during transitions from one political party to another.
“If there is a change in the administration, if you think an administration will be less favorable, you will try to write down and make an agreement,” said Cathy Creighton, director of Buffalo Co-Lab of Cornell University The School of Industrial and Labor relations.
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What exactly did Trump do?
Trump’s memo said that the trade union contracts held in the 30 days before the inauguration of the new president, adding that they will “not be approved.”
The White House has not returned a request for comments.
The order seems to cancel the recent trade union contracts that were completed between December 21 and the Inauguration Day on January 20, which extends to employees of the US Department of Education and possibly other agencies. The order is exempt from trade union contracts that relate to police and law enforcement.
The step to cancel the Union Contracts builds on the recent actions of the Trump government to reduce the government in various ways. Since his appointment, Trump has finished remotely per executive order, offered them incentives for federal employees to resign and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) began to dismantle.
Until the order of Trump, it remained an open question whether the new administration would try to extend its telephoto work ban to trade union workers with contracts that protect the telephoto work.
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Who is being hit?
It is not entirely clear, but it says that it will influence trade union contracts that are negotiated in the 30 days before Trump took on, those thousands of employees in the Education department and possibly other agencies.
The trade union contract in the Education department, which came into force on January 17, contained telework protection.
It is still to be seen how many employees or which agencies are affected outside the educational department. That information was requested by the Republicans in the Huiscommité for supervision and reform of the largest union of the federal government, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE).
For example, the Social Security Administration does not seem to be influenced, because its trade union contract, which contains telework protection, was completed and signed at the end of November.
The National Federation of Federal Employees – another Federal Workers Union with around 110,000 members – tries to find out if we have contracts that are the target, “said the president, Randy Erwin. No national contracts packed in Trump’s 30 -day period , he added: “But we may have had smaller contracts that did.”
Everett Kelley, president of the AFGEGE, a trade union that represents around 800,000 federal employees, called the order “still taken an action by Mr. Musk and the Trump administration … to scare and confuse career -federal employees.”
The trade union did not respond to a question about which of its contracts in the 30-day window were approved before Trump took office.
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Is it legal?
Legal experts say that the command of lawsuits will be confronted and can be beaten by the courts. Kelley said that if the Union contracts are violated, “we will defend them aggressively.”
“Approved trade union contracts for federal employees are legally enforceable and the administration does not have the authority to make unilateral changes to those agreements,” said Carla Katz, an expert in the field of labor and labor law in the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations.
Creighton, director of the Buffalo Co-Lab of Cornell University, said: “There will be a legal challenge [to Trump’s order] And it would be destroyed. ‘
Trump’s order also seems to be transferred to future administrations. Presidents will have the opportunity to block trade union contracts to come into effect that were approved within 30 days, said it. Presumably a future president could withdraw the order of Trump.
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What does it mean for Trump’s relationship with trade unions?
Trump’s executive order marks a continuation of his hostile relationship with trade unions in the public sector. But it comes at a time when he has done unusual interior with a few trade unions, in particular the teamsters.
Trump has shown some interest in following a friendlier approach than is typical of the Gop in the direction of organized labor-especially in trade unions where he had strong support among members of the rank and traffic jam in the presidential election. Trump opted for a candidate for Labor Secretary who is approved by the teamsters and other trade unions. And last month he expressed his support for East and Gulf Coast’s cheese dock workers when they fought to win a trade union contract with protection against automated technology.
But labor experts expect that he remains hostile to other parts of the workers’ movement, in particular trade unions and trade unions in the public sector. Last week he took the unprecedented step to shoot members of the National Labor Relations Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, two agencies in charge of protecting the rights of employees. He also dismissed NLRB-Algema Raennifer Abruzzo, who was generally considered one of the more union-friendly people to serve in the work.
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