The last defense line against Trump

Federal labor unions are in a fight for survival only 100 days after the presidency of Donald Trump.

The new administration has attacked collective bargaining while shooting workers and shrinks or eliminates federal departments by Fiat. Has tried Intestinal key agencies that apply labor rights for federal workers. Has ignored Trade union contracts negotiated by Trump’s predecessor. And it has moved to Close the deduction of payment check quotas To starve to their funds.

In its most shameless movement, the White House has tried to Strip Union Protection From up to 1 million federal employees, for doubtful reasons that they work mainly in “National Security”. If the administration is successful, collective bargaining agreements could be expelled in more than a dozen agencies and departments, which makes it much easier to fire people without due process.

According to Labor historian Joseph McCartin, Trump’s actions could be more destructive to federal trade unionism than Ronald Reagan’s infamous breakdown of the strike of air traffic drivers in 1981, a monumental defeat that is still hanging on the United States Labor Movement.

“I think, like all of us, [the unions] They have been captured by surprise for the reach of the aggression, and how far the administration has come, “said McCartin, who wrote a book about the Patco Strike and teach at the University of Georgetown. “I don’t think anyone has understood where this would be at this time.”

Most federal workers have been eligible to collectively bargain Since 1962although the powers of their unions are limited. They cannot negotiate directly on payment and benefits, and are prohibited from going to strike. But they provide strong labor security and protect the workers of the discipline and arbitrary shots, which places them in the center of Trump’s historical assault to the bureaucracy.

“We cannot see this as some bureaucrats who lose their ability to make their boss’s life inconvenient. This is a specific step to destabilize our government.”

– Colin Smalley, president of Local Ifpte 777

But unions have also helped organize some of the Huge manifestations that have appeared in cities throughout the country to protest Trump’s agenda. And federal employees have resorted to their local union representatives to advise them on how to respond to the latest demands of the Trump administration.

Lauren Leib, an employee of the Land Administration Office and Chief of his Union chapter, National Treasury Employes Union 340 in New Mexico, said the White House wants to beat the federal work groups because they are an obstacle to illegal shootings and privatization. In fact, by explaining its policy by slowing the rights of collective bargaining, the Administration said that “certain unions” had “declared war on the agenda of President Trump.”

“It is very obvious what they are trying to do,” said Leib, who spoke with News themezone in his capacity as a union officer. “[The administration] He knows we fight, and they know it is of public interest. We are fighting to keep people in these positions so they can continue to serve and do not like. “

Nathan Posner/Anadolu through Getty Images

Although the unions expected Trump to try to eliminate collective bargaining for some workers, their executive order was much broader Of what many expected agencies that covered as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of the Interior.

Leib, who works as an examiner of land law in oil and gas, would lose its union protections under the premise that its main role is national security, a reason that finds absurd.

“Some of my members are rangers, recreation specialists, botanists,” he explained. “We are not national security. We do not participate in contraintelligence.”

On Friday, the Leib union won a mandate temporarily blocking the executive order to be implemented. Other unions have filed a similar demand on the reasons that the order is illegal and reprisals.

Matt Biggs, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, argues that Trump’s policy will end up undermining national security by destabilizing the workforce. Its union represents workers in the shipyards of the Navy, as well as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Army Corps of Engineers, among other agencies.

“Our members prepare these ships and submarines to go out to the sea; they do it on time and under budget,” Biggs said. “We have had a very strong and productive association with management for decades.”

“Our unions go anywhere,” he added. “Donald Trump is demonstrating to be the best organizer.”

Federal unions have Thousands of new members were added From Trump’s choice, but at the same time they are losing many others due to renunciations and layoffs. The largest federal union, the American Federation of Government employees, said recently Leave more than half of your staff despite overcoming your initial organization objective by 2025.

The EGE attributed the staff cuts in part to the Trump administration that blocks the deduction of union fees of workers’ payment checks. Waiting for such a White House movement, the unions have spent the last months trying to change members to pay the quotas through bank drafts.

“Federal unions have added thousands of new members from Trump’s elections, but at the same time they are losing many others due to renunciations and layoffs.”

Federal unions have a high ceiling for growth in part because many workers have historically chosen not being members. By law, federal workplaces are “open stores“, Which means that no one can be demanded to pay the union fees, even if covered by the contract. The bar against the coup or even the negotiation of the salary can hinder the mobilization of federal workers compared to their private sector counterparts.

It remains to be seen if Trump’s aggression will provide durable fuel so that federal unions grow in size and militancy.

Colin Smalley, a geographer of the Army Corps and head of Local IFPTE 777 in Chicago, said that membership in its union has more than duplicated since November, with more than half of the 300 workers who now pay the quotas. The union has even brought associated members who are not covered by the contract, but who choose to register anyway. Many workers are considering requesting their own union elections, according to Smalley.

“This is happening everywhere,” he said. “Even people who have not had a union before are absolutely aware of why they need it. And they also come to us.”

Like Leib, Smalley is part of an informal group called Federal Trade Unionist Networkwhich is trying to involve federal base employees in their unions. The group arose following the closure of the 2018-19 government that Trump instigated during his first presidency. He has been organizing pickets to gather support for federal workers, which could be key to survive Trump’s era.

Smalley said it was important that the general public see the attacks on federal unions as part of the broader weakening of Trump’s democratic norms.

“We cannot see this as some bureaucrats who lose their ability to make their boss’s life inconvenient,” he said. “This is a specific step to destabilize our government.”

Until now, the greatest counterattacks of the unions have been through the courts. After all, any strike would be illegal and risky: Trump is looking for some reason to fire federal employees, and in most cases he would welcome them to retain their work.

But McCartin warned that no union should be in the Judiciary or Congress intervene to save them.

He said it could be time for some unions to reassess what they feel comfortable doing. To give an example, the idea that federal employees were presented in the office floated and insisted on working on important projects, risking the arrest for transferring, a collective action that perhaps could generate public support. He acknowledged that he does not know if he would work.

“But it’s time for people to be creative,” he said. “Ju books Traditional gadas are torn. They do not apply. It is a radically new situation and must be answered in a new and creative way. “