In Latest Attack on Unions, Trump Administration Cuts More Federal Union Rights
On Thursday, August 29th, President Trump issued an executive order axing union contracts for hundreds of federal workers, including workers at NASA and the National Weather Service. All in all, the Trump administration’s executive orders have terminated collective bargaining rights for more than one million union workers in the public sector.
Photo courtesy of AFGE Local 3911.
On Thursday, August 29th, President Trump issued an executive order axing union contracts for hundreds of federal workers, including workers at NASA and the National Weather Service.
This comes after terminations of collective bargaining rights and agreements with over 377,000 federal workers at the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) earlier this year.
All in all, the Trump administration’s executive orders have terminated collective bargaining rights for more than one million union workers in the public sector.
This includes nurses, benefits workers, doctors, and support staff who serve U.S. veterans through the VA. It also includes the dissolution of union contracts for 47,000 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers, in addition to dozens of other union contracts across food safety agencies, disaster preparedness agencies, and others.
Unions representing federal workers, such as the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), have sued the federal government in response.
In addition, a national network of rank and file federal workers called the Federal Unionists Network (FUN), has been organizing to build a democratic, bottom-up movement to defend federal workers and revitalize their unions.
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler blasted the Trump administration’s attacks on workers right before Labor Day, stating: “Issuing these executive orders just days before the holiday that honors everything working people have fought and died for—including our right to come together with our co-workers in a union and bargain for what we deserve—shows us that this administration’s callous disregard for workers’ rights knows no bounds.”
UFCW International leadership has yet to publish comments regarding the Trump administration’s actions.
An attack on union workers anywhere is an attack on union workers everywhere. We stand in solidarity with our union siblings in the public sector.