Posts tagged Joni Ernst
Sen. Joni Ernst pushes to ban taxpayer-funded union time in One Big Beautiful Bill Act
June 16, 2025 // Approximately $160 million of your money went toward fed workers’ union time as of 2019, the last time such data was available, and Ernst (R-Iowa) has been on a quest for more recent information. Her legislation, dubbed the “Protecting Taxpayers’ Wallet Act,” would compel government unions to reimburse taxpayers for all of their taxpayer-backed activities. Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) has championed the measure in the House.
NASA spent almost $900K on taxpayer-funded union time last year — to negotiate trivial workplace issues: ‘Absurd’
June 2, 2025 // “They’re left negotiating for tedious things that are of zero or negative benefit to taxpayers,” Rachel Greszler, a senior research fellow on workforce and public finance at the Heritage Foundation, previously explained to The Post. “This includes things like the height of cubicle panels, securing designated smoking areas on otherwise smoke-free campuses, and the right to wear Spandex at work.” In 2023, there were 43 employees at NASA who logged in taxpayer-funded union time, with about 6,588.5 hours of union work done that year. By 2024, that jumped to 49, with 8,780.25 union work done, according to the new data.
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.
Bill Prohibiting Union Time on Taxpayers’ Dime Would Extend Trump EO to Entire Federal Workforce
April 10, 2025 // With the average federal employee receiving almost $163,000 in total compensation (including $106,400 in pay and $56,600 in benefits), the time federal employees spend working for their union can add up quickly. The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability discovered that 1,030 Social Security Administration employees spent a total of 242,237 hours on official time in fiscal year 2023. This cost taxpayers $15.1 million, including $1.43 million to pay 14 employees who spent 100% of their time working for their union. Meanwhile, senior citizens across the country were struggling to get in touch with Social Security Administration employees and unable to get in-person appointments at their local Social Security Administration offices.
GOP Unveils Bill To End Taxpayer-Funded Union Organizing
April 8, 2025 // Lee and Cline’s No Union Time on the Taxpayer’s Dime Act would end the practice of “official time”— paid time given to federal employees to perform union duties during work hours and using government office space. This practice costs taxpayers more than $100 million annually, according to data from the White House Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
Workers at Defense Health Agency spent $3.3 million and 87,000 hours working on their own union benefits
April 7, 2025 // Federal unions are restricted from negotiating benefits and pay by the Federal Service Labor Management Relations Statute. Instead, benefits and pay are determined by law set by Congress and federal regulations. But federal unions can negotiate over more minor aspects of working conditions. “This includes things like the height of cubicle panels, securing designated smoking areas on otherwise smoke-free campuses, and the right to wear Spandex at work,” Rachel Greszler, a senior research fellow on workforce and public finance at the Heritage Foundation, previously told The Post.
Commentary: Taxpayer-Funded Union Work Deserves Transparency, Limits
March 21, 2025 // The Office of Personnel Management estimated federal employees spent at least 2.6 million hours on official time in fiscal year 2019, at a cost to taxpayers of $135 million. This was after President Trump sharply curbed taxpayer-funded union time via a 2018 executive order. Because unions have a right to unspecified quantities of official time under federal statute, the most the president can do without congressional action is implement parameters around its use or, in the case of the Biden administration, crank it to 11. In his drive to become “the most pro-union president in history,” Biden rescinded Trump’s executive order limiting official time and directed federal agencies to grant unions more taxpayer-funded union time.
Commentary Rachel Greszler: What Trump Memo on Taxpayer-Funded Union Time Means for Federal Employee Unions
March 18, 2025 // In addition to tracking the number of employees and their time, agencies also have to report on other taxpayer-provided subsidies to unions. That would include, for example, “a single Veterans Affairs facility allocate[ing] half of a hospital wing—over 5,000 square feet—largely for the use of the union president and officials” as exposed in a report from the Institute for the American Worker. The irony of federal employees’ excessive use of official time is that they can’t even bargain for the biggest things most unions bargain over—pay and benefits. And working predominantly in offices (or, prior to Trump’s executive order requiring federal employees to return to the office, in their homes) hardly poses a need for lengthy worker safety negotiations. That leaves official time to be predominantly spent defending poor performers and bad actors that agencies have disciplined or dismissed, and negotiating over tedious things like the height of cubicle panels; designated smoking areas on otherwise smoke-free campuses; and the right to wear spandex at work.