IFPTE Federal Sector Update on Trump/Musk and DOGE Attacks on Federal Workers - Week Ending Feb. 28
IFPTE’s executive officers and staff, along with our Union partners at the Federal Workers Alliance (FWA) and the AFL-CIO, continue to work in coalition on all fronts—Legal, Legislative, Grassroots, and PR—to fight against the illegal and unprecedented attacks by President Trump, the so-called DOGE, including Elon Musk and his associates, and larger Trump Administration, against federal workers and the agencies they work for.
Here is the latest:
Legislative:
IFPTE continues to meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill seeking their support for blocking and mitigating the damage done by the mass firings of federal workers, including those represented by IFPTE.
IFPTE Secretary-Treasurer, Gay Henson, and Legislative Director, Faraz Khan, participated in a roundtable on the federal workers in Maryland. The Wednesday roundtable was a fact-finding and listening session organized by Maryland’s Congressional delegation in which Senators Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks and Representatives Glenn Ivey, Steny Hoyer, Jamie Raskin, Kweisi Mfume, Sarah Elfreth, and Johnny Olszewski participated. Secretary-Treasurer Henson commented on the event, saying that, “this discussion was another opportunity for IFPTE to inform our federal lawmakers of the damage being inflicted on both federal workers and their families, and the services they provide to the American public. It was as much a brainstorming session as to how to navigate a hostile Congress in trying to achieve legislative remedies to these assaults, as it was for us to also make public the true damage this is doing to our nation.” Khan also commented: “There are proven supporters of federal workers in the Maryland Congressional delegation that have defended our civilian workforce and federal employees union rights for decades. These members also happen to hold key committee positions overseeing both spending and jurisdiction over federal employee matters. We applaud them for holding this meeting and for looking for avenues by which they can legislate some relief from these senseless attacks on our government services and the people that provide them.”
· IFPTE and NFFE jointly led a union sign-on letter from the Federal Workers Alliance to Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins and Vice Chair Patty Murray requesting the lawmakers include in the next government funding bill language to stop the illegal and unconstitutional actions of the Trump Administration that seek to dismantle federal agencies, politicized the civil service, and instigate a constitutional crisis by ignoring Congress’ authority. https://www.ifpte.org/news/unions-in-federal-workers-alliance-tells-senate-appropriators-to-defund-trump-administrations-illegial-and-unconsititutional-actions
· IFPTE, the AFL-CIO, and several unions are meeting with House Republican offices to urge them not to support a budget reconciliation bill that will cut federal employee retirement and health care benefits. Earlier this week, IFPTE sent a letter to all Members of the House opposing those cuts. https://www.ifpte.org/news/ahead-of-vote-on-budget-resolution-ifpte-tells-house-of-representatives-to-oppose-cuts-to-federal-employee-benefits-medicaid-and-snap-to-fund-tax-cuts-for-the-wealthiest.
Grassroots – “Congress, DO SOMETHING” :
- Fired Federal workers took to Capitol Hill this week urging Congress to “DO SOMETHING!”. See news coverage of their sit-in here.
- Fearing Trump cuts, NOAA workers in Washington state held a ‘Save Our Science’ rally (Seattle Times). IFPTE Local 8A members and leaders organized a rally calling for solidarity with the NOAA workforce and highlighting the importance of what NOAA and its employees do.
Legal:
IFPTE is a named plaintiff in the following lawsuits:
1) Protect Democracy-led lawsuit along with several other unions alleging that the Department of Education, the Office of Personnel Management. and the Department of Treasury improperly disclosed the sensitive records of millions of Americans to DOGE staff who lack appropriate security clearances and have not been properly vetted, and granted access to some of the government’s most sensitive and closely guarded data systems, in violation of the Privacy Act. The lawsuit is asking the court to impose injunctive and declaratory relief to ensure that improper disclosures to DOGE representatives stop immediately and that any data currently in DOGE’s possession be immediately deleted and destroyed.
2) NTEU-led lawsuit to protect probationary workers and other fed workers from wholesale firings and to save public services. Last week, the judge denied the unions’ request for a temporary restraining order; however, unions will get their day in court in a few weeks to challenge the mass illegal firings of federal civil servants. Some good news on this front - a judge granted the requested emergency relief in a similar lawsuit in district court in California this week. The scope of the order is not yet known and we will send out the information once it is released.
3) AALJ/IFPTE Judicial Council 1 and AFGE Privacy Act lawsuit to block DOGE from accessing personal and employment records through OPM.
4) Class action/collected individual appeals for fired probationary workers – See IFPTE’s guidance below to Locals regarding avenues for terminated probationary workers.
Latest News on Lawsuits:
1) AFGE v OPM and OPM Director Ezell – Federal District Judge, William Alsup, ruled in favor of a labor-initiated lawsuit by AFGE and others to block the firings of federal probationary workers. In issuing a TRO against several agencies while making clear that the government should extend to other agencies, Judge Alsup said, “The Office of Personnel Management does not have any authority whatsoever under any statute in the history of the universe to hire and fire employees at another agency.” See the GovExec article on this ruling here.
Note: Legal Update from IFPTE General Counsel, Teresa Ellis, to IFPTE Federal Locals and Members on OSC Decision - As you will notice and as we stated in our press release, the "class action" stay was granted for only 6 terminated probationary employees in 6 different agencies.
Generally, if we're talking about what amounts to a RIF, our advice remains the same - locals should check their contracts and utilize their grievance procedures to attack RIFs and include a ULP so that an arbitrator's decision can be enforced in district court. IFPTE will send out more specific guidance early next week.
In addition, the Office of Special Counsel is looking into whether it is possible to extend this stay to groups of similarly situated employees. If an individual chooses this route, the grievance procedure may be closed to them; note that individuals who participated in the Alden Group case were not bargaining unit members.