Posts tagged federal government
Trump offers all federal workers an 8-month buyout to resign
January 29, 2025 // Of the 3 million federal workers, roughly 374,000 or 12%, work in the Washington metropolitan area, which includes the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia and parts of West Virginia, according to data from the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank. The largest percentage of federal workers are employed outside the nation’s capital. Federal workers account for the 15th largest workforce in the nation, and their average tenure is 11.8 years, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Office of Personnel Management data.
‘I am terrified’: Workers describe the dark mood inside federal agencies
January 27, 2025 // At the State Department, the shutdown of those programs was something many saw coming. But some were startled by the directive that they report individual cases of people’s job descriptions being changed to “disguise” the DEI element to a special Office of Personnel Management email address. Some saw it as an order to snitch on colleagues. Others, who prepared for Trump’s return to office, had begun working months ago with outside nonprofits to archive websites they feared would be taken down by the Trump administration — including information on ending gender-based violence around the world.
Legal options for job seekers impacted by Trump’s hiring freeze
January 22, 2025 // For federal civilian job seekers with offers in hand, President Donald Trump’s federal hiring freeze has brought sudden uncertainty — and limited recourse. The freeze, signed into effect Monday at noon, stops hiring for civilian federal employees and is part of a broader plan to downsize the federal workforce.
I4AW Report: Transparency Needed in the Process of Federal Collective Bargaining
January 14, 2025 // I4AW’s report, titled “Transparency Needed in the Process of Federal Collective Bargaining,” reveals that likely hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars are spent each year on costs associated with the process of collective bargaining between the federal government and labor unions.
More membership losses for National Education Association
January 13, 2025 // The National Education Association is still shedding members, according to the latest edition of a report it filed with the federal government. The national labor union that represents teachers and school staffers saw its membership drop from 2,451,693 to 2,439,963 in the past year, for a loss of 11,730 members. Each year, the union and its affiliates must file an LM-2 report with the U.S. Department of Labor.
Federal bailout gives $635 million to carpenters union pension plan
November 24, 2024 // The federal government is spending $635 million in taxpayer funds to bail out a multiemployer pension fund for a Detroit carpenters union. Pension experts warn that the bailout comes with little or no accountability and no indication that it won’t happen again. Julie Su, acting secretary of labor, announced the bailout in a video posted to her X account Oct. 18. Su credited the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, which appropriated $86 billion for union pensions.
NC Farm Bureau sues US Dept of Labor
October 29, 2024 // “Our complaint is that the DOL doesn't have the authority to require collective bargaining or to provide collective bargaining and self-organization rights to workers; that's Congress' job,” said Jake Parker, general counsel for the North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation.
Half a century later, ILA returns to strike mode
September 13, 2024 // The ILA is one of the least aggressive unions when it comes to coastwide strikes, especially relative to its militant West Coast counterpart: the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), which orchestrated stoppages and slowdowns just last year to attain its desired contract. In many respects, then, the ILA is riding the wave of labor’s recent successes that were achieved through hard-line tactics. In August 2023, the Teamsters celebrated the ratification of a new agreement with UPS. A few months later, the United Auto Workers secured large pay raises and other benefits for its members after a 46-day strike against Ford, Stellantis and General Motors.
Patrick Pizzella: There Is Always Dignity in Work
September 2, 2024 // We honor work itself as a noble pursuit. All work. Any kind of work. In hard work itself there is meaning, calling and purpose. People want to work! And we as a culture, as a country, should be recommitting ourselves to recognizing the dignity of work, whether you work on Main Street, Wall Street, under the street, sweeping the street, or paving the street.
Op-Ed: Greszler: Harris, Walz policy records undermine pro-worker rhetoric
August 23, 2024 // the Biden-Harris Administration is also picking winners and losers among blue-collar workers. Its regulations governing wages and labor agreements on government contracts are disastrous. They almost exclude non-union workers from federal contract jobs, including 89% of construction workers who aren’t unionized; force many workers who perform federal contract jobs into unions, including requiring them to pay into union pensions they’ll never receive. Not only that, but despite the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to empower and unionize more workers, the unionization rate hit a new record low of 10% in 2023 (6% among the private sector), and the gap between union and non-union wages also hit a record low. That’s because union wages increased 6.4 percentage points less than non-union wages between 2019 and 2023. For Walz’s part, he’s signed a slew of labor laws ostensibly aimed at helping workers, but by driving up the costs and legal liabilities of employing people in Minnesota, they have instead hamstrung job growth in the state.