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“More than 445,000 federal employees saw their union protections disappear in August, as agencies moved to comply with an executive order President Trump signed earlier this year that called for ignoring collective bargaining contracts with nearly one million workers…
“The termination of protections followed an Aug. 1 appeals court ruling on legal challenges to Mr. Trump’s directive. The order, signed in late March, directed 22 agencies to ignore contracts for employees in specific unions. Last Thursday, Mr. Trump signed a second executive order stripping union rights from thousands of other employees at six additional agencies…
“Mr. Trump said that the affected workers had roles that touched on national security, and that provisions in their labor contracts could interfere with his policies being carried out. He cited, for example, the role that Department of Veterans Affairs employees play in providing care for wounded troops in wartime.” New York Times
The left supports collective bargaining with federal workers, arguing that a strong labor movement is crucial for democracy.
“Trump has stipulated that his right to cancel is rooted in a clause stating that contracts should not extend to departments and agencies that deal with matters of national security. That’s why the CIA and Defense Department have never been unionized. But how the doctors, nurses, therapists, and social workers who care for the nation’s veterans—not to mention the park rangers who tend to Yosemite and Yellowstone… could endanger national security in the course of their daily rounds remains unexplained…
“What’s behind Trump’s union busting? At one level, he wants to destroy unions simply because they oppose him; opposition is all it takes for Trump to order a hit. At a deeper level, unions are a voice from below, and their autonomy poses a threat to autocrats. Even enfeebled unions have the potential to reawaken and join a battle to thwart despots…
“It’s no accident that every Western democracy has had—at one time, at least—a powerful union movement; just as it’s no accident that no autocracy—and no aspiring autocrat like Trump—can tolerate one.”
Harold Meyerson, American Prospect
“The whole point of a contract is that it is legally binding on both signatories. If the boss can just terminate the agreement he signed with you whenever he feels like it, then you don’t actually have one. And that’s precisely what labor law is supposed to guard against — it says that workers have rights that have to be respected. Until they don’t…
“While a great many of America’s unionized government workers work for state and local agencies, if Trump can eliminate union representation at the federal level, he will have gone a long way toward the goal of destroying the American labor movement. But he won’t stop there. Trump is attempting to drain union power among private sector workers too… Trump is the most anti-labor president in modern American history.”
Paul Waldman, Public Notice
“Despite this assault on their very existence, we have barely heard a peep from unions. Where is organized labor in the public fight to maintain union jobs, stop the stripping of the safety net and lead the fight for democracy? Other than some statements and angry speeches, the movement has been muted. If the labor movement wants to fight for its survival, it must return to mass mobilization tactics…
“Unions must step into the vacuum that millions of Americans feel when it comes to their economic lives. The hopelessness many people feel on economic issues — like the shuttering of factories and inflation — has led to working-class support for Mr. Trump. But it has also led to a surge in support for unions in this country. Most people believe the system is broken and are looking for someone to fix it. Unions can provide that leadership. Unions love to talk about how workers have the ultimate power; they can withhold their labor through strikes. They should use their power to target President Trump’s war on the working class.”
Erik Loomis, New York Times
The right opposes collective bargaining with federal workers, arguing that doing so interferes with democracy.
The right opposes collective bargaining with federal workers, arguing that doing so interferes with democracy.
“FDR believed that collective bargaining agreements were incompatible with public sector workforces. He declared that ‘we the people’ set public policy through the democratic process in America; binding the people to a collective bargaining agreement takes authority away from the people. For the same reason, FDR opposed strikes by government employees as ‘unthinkable and intolerable.’…
“For decades, many union leaders agreed with him. ‘It is impossible to bargain collectively with the government,’ declared George Meany, the president of the AFL-CIO, in 1955. In his view, government collective bargaining meant voters wouldn’t have the final say on public policy — a nondemocratic outcome…
“Things changed starting in the 1960s… Since then, the federal government has become the largest unionized workforce on the planet. It spends hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on collective bargaining. The result makes efforts to reform the civil service impossible.”
John Fund, National Review
“Collective bargaining and labor relations are much more challenging in the public sector than in the private sector because the ultimate manager is the electorate, the voters. A private employer, subject to certain labor law limitations, can shut down operations, offshore work, or subcontract it. Public sector management, in many cases, cannot…
“This fact strengthens the public sector unions, which can go to the electorate, the legislative branch, or the administrative state (i.e., management/political appointees) to find allies. Over time, public sector unions will have a greater ability to influence management policy-making, hiring, and promotion decisions, as well as the delivery of services, than private sector unions. They can utilize their social and political capital to shape the understanding and will of an electorate.”
Father George E. Schultze, SJ, Catholic World Report
“In 1939, the Hatch Act included language limiting political activity by public-sector workers. The act, passed by a Democratic Congress under a Democratic president, stemmed from concerns about political activity by employees at Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration during the 1936 election. Roosevelt aide Harry Hopkins, director of the WPA, had been accused of promising jobs for votes, leading to congressional outcry and the passage of the law…
“[But in 1978 Jimmy Carter] expanded union power at the federal level… Carter also created the Department of Education, long sought by teachers' unions. They have been paying back Democrats ever since. A new report shows the top two teachers' unions have given almost $50 million to left-wing groups since 2022… We should celebrate American workers while recognizing the difference between hardworking citizens and public-sector unions that use their power to elect their own bosses.”
Tevi Troy, Fox News
