Rep. Golden, Rep. Fitzpatrick, Sen. Van Hollen, and Labor Caucus Lead Congress to Stand with Federal Workers and Their Unions

This week, IFPTE and other labor unions worked with Senators and a bipartisan group of Congressional Representatives to make sure Congress had a strong response supporting federal workers’ collective bargaining rights and told President Trump that his executive order (EO) to deny collective bargaining for 1.5 million federal workers is a illegitimate overreach, totally outside the law, and hurts the federal government.

The Trump EO 14251, titled “Exclusions From Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs,” uses limited statutory authority to exclude whole federal agencies and departments from collective bargaining. This includes all of DOD, Department of Veterans Affairs, EPA, DOJ, Treasury Department, State Department, and several others. The EO does not include all the agencies where IFPTE represents federal employees. The EO also excludes federal law enforcement and firefighters.

In the House of Representatives, Rep. Jared Golden’s (D-ME) and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick’s (R-PA) office worked with IFPTE and federal labor unions to introduce legislation called the Protect America’s Workforce Act (H.R. 2550), which would nullify the exclusion of bargaining rights in the EO. Along with the bipartisan co-leads, the original cosponsors include four Democrats and three Republicans.

IFPTE President Matt Biggs noted, “This illegal attack on collective bargaining rights by the Trump Administration will do great harm to the efficient operations of our federal government, including to our national security.  IFPTE applauds and thanks Representatives Fitzpatrick and Golden for crafting and introducing this bill and urges Congress to find a way to pass it.

At the same time, Rep. Fitzpatrick led a Republican letter to President Trump requesting that he “reconsider these Executive Orders and restore collective bargaining rights to federal agencies where bargaining would not genuinely impair national security interests.” Read the letter here [PDF]

Also, the Congressional Labor Caucus, which is co-chaired by Rep. Donald Norcross (D-NJ) and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) sent a strong letter to the President that makes clear that, “While Congress granted the President narrow authority to exclude some agencies from collective bargaining, those exclusions can only be made if that agency has a primary function in intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work, and only if the statute cannot be applied “in a manner consistent with national security requirements and considerations.” Read the Labor Caucus’s press release and letter, signed by all House Democrats, here.

Senator Chris Van Hollen led a Senate sign-on letter demanding that President Trump rescind the Executive Order, making the case that, “There is no evidence that the long-standing collective bargaining agreements at these agencies have jeopardized our nation’s security in any way; to the contrary, the protection collective bargaining has provided for employees allows them to conduct their work on behalf of the American people—including blowing the whistle on fraud or abuse—without political interference.”  All 47 Senators in the Senate Democratic Caucus signed the letter. Read the Van Hollen press statement, including Senate Democrats’ letter, here.