Legislative, Legal, Grassroots Member Engagement; PR - IFPTE, Federal Workers Alliance (FWA) Fighting DOGE, Trump Administration Attacks on Federal Workers on Many Fronts
IFPTE’s executive officers and staff, along with our Union partners at the Federal Workers Alliance (FWA), worked in coalition throughout the week fighting against the onslaught of attacks coming from the Trump Administration, and the so-called DOGE led by billionaire Elon Musk and his associates.
In addition to an FWA letter this week to key House and Senate lawmakers imploring Congress “to move bipartisan legislation, including but not limited to exercising the Holman Rule and working with appropriators to defund the ability of these individuals to access the PII of federal workers”; IFPTE secretary-treasurer, Gay Henson, legislative director, Faraz Khan, and assistant to the executive officers, Brian Kildee, participated in a labor-led rally at the Department of Labor against the Musk takeover of the DOL, where Henson warned that, “our Congress must step in an put a stop to the dismantling of our federal government.” IFPTE also took our message to the public, having been quoted in NOTUS, The Hill, America’s Workforce Podcast, and NPR, among others.
In addition, IFPTE joined a lawsuit being led by NTEU to block the illegal and reckless resignation threat from the Trump Administration, and sent all Locals more guidance on the so-called “fork in the road” resignation solicitation, while urging IFPTE members and the public at large to join an AFGE-led “Saving the Civil Service” rally (February 11th on the Senate side of Capitol Hill), and the National Association of Letter Carriers “Fight Like Hell” (February 13th at the NALC headquarters) that IFPTE will participate in. Finally, here is a recap of the status of the illegal actions taken by the Trump Administration and IFPTE’s involvement:
Schedule F Executive Order: President Trump signed the Schedule F executive order on January 20th. NTEU and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility filed a lawsuit on January 20th, and AFGE and AFSCME filed a lawsuit challenging the EO on January 29th.
The Federal Workers Alliance (FWA) lawyers committee got a briefing from AFGE on their lawsuit at a February 4th meeting. FWA Unions are inquiring with AFGE about accepting organization amicus briefs at which point IFPTE may join their lawsuit.
Depending on whether or not AFGE accepts others to join their lawsuit, the FWA has not ruled out a lawsuit of our own on the Schedule F EO.
Presidential Memorandum on Telework: President Trump signed the “Return to In Person Work” presidential memorandum on January 20, 2025.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) subsequently sent a January 22 memorandum to all agencies requiring them to “revise their telework policies by 5:00 p.m., Friday, January 24, 2025, and advise OPM of the date that the agency will be in full compliance with the Presidential Memorandum Return to In-Person Work.”
OPM sent yet another guidance memorandum to agencies on February 3, 2025, notifying management alleging that, “the substantive amount of telework agencies authorize and the substantive determinations of which positions will be eligible for telework is a management right. Provisions of collective bargaining agreements that conflict with management rights are unlawful and cannot be enforced.”
Legal/lawsuits - IFPTE has requested that McGillivary law firm provide us an opinion as to whether the January 20th presidential memorandum, the January 22nd OPM memo, and/or the February 3rd memo violate the Telework Enhancement Act law.
Personally Identifiable Information (PII) of federal workers – Since taking office on January 20th, it has been widely reported that Elon Musk and associates who have been employed by his companies in the private sector, have essentially taken over several government agencies, including the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) where the PII information of federal employees is housed. The individuals, led by billionaire, Elon Musk, have not been elected to any office, not been nominated to lead any government agency, and have not been properly vetted through background checks. Yet, they reportedly have access to PII of the more than 2 million federal workers.
There have been several lawsuits filed against this hostile takeover of OPM and other government agencies, and Personally Identifiable Information (PII) of our nation’s more than 2 million civilian workers, and likely the PII of federal government contractors as well. This is alarming, illegal, and unprecedented and it is imperative for everyone in Congress – regardless of political party, to step in immediately to rid the Treasury, OPM and all other agencies of these unvetted individuals.
Specifically, a February 3rd GovExec article reports that “associates of Elon Musk, who have taken leadership positions at the federal government’s human resources agency, “have locked career civil servants out of computer systems that contain the personal data of millions of federal employees.”
Laws are in place that require government officials to comply with Federal statutory and policy requirements to protect the PII and other sensitive financial information.
Legal and Legislative Update: Several organizations have filed lawsuits against this takeover of OPM and the PII of federal workers, including…
o IFPTE is working with IFPTE members who are willing to be a part of a class-action lawsuit that the McGillivary firm is pursuing on this matter.
o IFPTE worked with the Federal Workers Alliance on a letter to Capitol Hill imploring key lawmakers having direct jurisdiction over these issues “to exercise its tremendous oversight power to protecting the PII of our nation’s federal workers from Elon Musk and his associates.” Read the letter here. [uploaded to files]
o On Tuesday, Feruary 4th, IFPTE legislative staff attended a roundtable discussion with Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA, Ranking Member on House Oversight Committee) to discuss the oversight, legislative efforts, legal efforts, mobilization, messaging, and coordination needed to counter series of illegal actions committed by Executive Branch leadership and their unvetted outside advisors that shows no sign of letting up. Read more here.
4. Fork in the Road Resignation Request from OPM – On January 28th OPM sent an email to what appears to be most of the 2 million federal workers requesting that they accept an offer by February 6 to resign their employment from federal service. The email alleges that workers who accept the offer will be paid through the end of the Fiscal Year – September 30th – but for the most part, will not have to perform their jobs any longer. A subsequent FAQ email was sent to workers seeking to answer questions, which included recommendations to workers to “find a job in the private sector as soon as you would like to do so. The way to greater American prosperity is encouraging people to move from lower productivity jobs in the public sector to higher productivity jobs in the private sector."
IFPTE sent a note to all Federal Locals on January 29th urging them to, “recommend that their bargaining unit employees remain calm regarding the requested “deferred resignations” and refrain from responding to the email because of significant unanswered questions and concerns regarding the facts. “
IFPTE sent a subsequent email to all Federal Locals on February 4th alerting them that, “there is no guarantee that an employee's resignation under this offer would be accepted or that an employee who attempts to resign under this program would actually receive the benefits it purports to offer.”
While IFPTE realizes that it is the personal choice of any federal employees, including those represented by IFPTE to decide what is best for them, we continue to caution members about all of the unanswered questions regarding this offer.
·Current Lawsuits:
i. AFGE filed a lawsuit on this matter on February 4th and a federal court issued a ruling on February 6th delaying the Trump Administration’s ability to move forward with this program.
ii. IFPTE joined a lawsuit led by NTEU seeking to halt this resignation threat on February 6th.
iii. There have also been multiple lawsuits filed against the establishment of DOGE.
iv. Alliance for Retired Americans filed a February 3rd lawsuit pertaining to DOGE representatives accessing PII of federal workers and others
v. Jane Doe v OPM lawsuit on Jan 27th alleging that OPMs emails directly to federal workers violates the E-Government Act of 2002 and asks the court to require the Office of Personnel Management to conduct a Privacy Impact Assessment before collecting any data from
5. Presidential Memorandum on not recognizing CBA’s approved 30 days or fewer before President Trump assumed office -
· The FWA and other unions are looking at legal options to seek injunctive relief against this presidential memorandum.