Posts tagged IRS
Chapter leaders allegedly mishandled over $100,000 in major federal union’s funds
May 28, 2025 // When Bruce took two trips from San Diego to suburban Washington, D.C., with his labor union leaders, and submitted $3,500 in expense reports for a daily rate, hotel, taxis, and airfare. His union president, who traveled separately, got reimbursed for about $8,500. But after Bruce got elected to a leadership position within the union, he found irregularities in the chapter’s records. Two iPads and an iPad mini were purchased for the chapter president in a three-year period. A $12,000 storage unit was approved by the treasurer, who made checks out to someone with her own last name to clean it out. A man with no formal position in the union signed checks, including to himself. In total, Bruce alleges that more than $116,000 went missing from the National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 212 in San Francisco, which represents about 900 workers within the Department of Health and Human Services. No one has been charged with a crime in relation to the missing funds. The Department of Labor indicated it in April it had pending "investigative proceedings" related to the chapter.
Trump’s mass layoff threat drives US government workers to resign
May 21, 2025 // Mass resignations driven by fear of firings Trump and Musk aim to cut federal workforce by 12% Unions angry over perceived harassment, forced resignations Tens of thousands of U.S. government workers have chosen to resign rather than endure what many view as a torturous wait for the Trump administration to carry out its threats to fire them, say unions, governance experts and the employees themselves. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on taking office to dramatically slash the size and cost of government. Four months later, mass layoffs at the largest agencies have yet to materialize and courts have slowed the process.
JPMorgan Chase CFO issues stern warning to employees
May 20, 2025 // During JPMorgan Chase’s annual Investor Day presentation, the company’s CFO, Jeremy Barnum, said that managers have recently been instructed to wind down hiring, pushing them to work better with their current employee headcount, according to a recent report from Business Insider. "At the margin, we're asking people to resist head count growth where possible and increase their focus on efficiency," said Barnum.
Court gives go-ahead to Trump’s plan to halt union bargaining for many federal workers
May 19, 2025 // Trump relied on a national security exemption to exempt agencies that he said "have as a primary function intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work." "Preserving the President's autonomy under a statute that expressly recognizes his national-security expertise is within the public interest," the appeal's court majority wrote.
Op-ed: MARY KATHARINE HAM: Teachers union bosses put themselves first, teachers and students last
April 23, 2025 // Just recently, Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst uncovered $3.3 million in taxpayer money, and 87,000 hours spent at one agency alone over just two years that went to thousands of hours of union-related activities instead of the American people. Elsewhere, the IRS union is negotiating for its members to show up only once a week in person and retain a bunch of generous bonuses. An unwelcome April surprise, just like your tax bill!
IRS workers only had to show up to work once a week in person, before Trump took over
April 18, 2025 // Last December, a bombshell report from Ernst’s office found that a measly 6% of the federal workforce showed up “in-person on a full-time basis.” Almost one-third of federal workers were remote on a full-time basis at the time, marking a steep decline from the pre-pandemic era in which only 3% teleworked daily, according to the report. Ernst has clashed with the IRS repeatedly, including over watchdog findings last July that current and former workers owed $46 million to Uncle Sam in unpaid taxes. “This adds insult to injury to the fact that the agency is filled with tax cheats,” the Hawkeye State senator added, referring to the collective bargaining deal. “I have a laundry list of reforms to fix America’s least favorite government agency.”
Coalition Letter: Protecting Taxpayers’ Wallets Act
April 16, 2025 // Prior to the recent termination of collective bargaining rights for Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers, the Department of Homeland Security revealed that nearly 200 TSA officers were working full-time on union matters despite being paid salaries by the government. In FY2019, the most recent year for which the data is available, over 550 employees at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) were paid taxpayer dollars to perform union work. In another case, a union president has been allowed to occupy an executive suite that spans half of a hospital wing at the Salem VA Medical Center at taxpayer expense. Members of Congress recently introduced legislation to rectify this problem and prevent further squandering of tax dollars. The “Protecting Taxpayers’ Wallets Act of 2025,” introduced as H.R. 1210 by Congressman Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and S. 511 by Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), would give agencies the power to charge labor unions for their use of official time and their use of any agency resources such as office space and equipment.
Employees swarm to second ‘deferred resignation’ offer, though some are receiving unexpected responses
April 15, 2025 // Employees across the department had until April 8 to opt into the program. Widespread layoffs are expected shortly, followed by relocations into new hubs around the country. USDA has implemented a heavy pressure campaign to motivate employees to accept the extended paid leave offer as it seeks to minimize the number of employees it must lay off through reductions in force. Employees received as many as 20 emails from HR, agency leadership and their own supervisors during the week the DRP window was open encouraging them to take advantage of the offer. “We were being peppered like hot wings before grilling,” one employee who received the email barrage said.
Unions take their protest of federal layoffs to the US Capitol
March 7, 2025 // They were there to demonstrate against reductions to the federal workforce. Signs included messages such as, “Save the Civil Service, Save the Country” and, “Support the Federal Workforce.” “The skies are crying because what’s happening to our workforce and what’s happening to the missions of our agencies,” said Doreen Greenwald, president of the National Treasury Employees Union. The protest was organized by a coalition of unions, including NTEU, and those who spoke criticized President Donald Trump’s administration’s downsizing of the federal workforce.
Philly congressman, union leaders, workers protest Trump’s federal layoffs
February 27, 2025 // “As to how we’re doing, the only answer is poorly,” Alex Berman, the executive vice president of the National Treasury Union Chapter 71, which represents Philly-area IRS workers, told NBC10 on Monday. “I have been on my phone constantly talking to the more than 400 people at my chapter alone who were let go under false pretenses. Now we’re looking at, if you don’t do X, you’ll be fired.” Berman referred to an email that was sent to federal workers last week asking them to detail their work. Monday’s rally took place at Independence National Historical Park where two employees were recently laid off, according to a union official.