Posts tagged lawsuits
Largest federal employee union, a leading Trump opponent, to lay off more than half of staff
April 28, 2025 // “It’s going to demolish us,” said Justin Youngblood, president of an AFGE chapter that represents workers at a VA hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. “That’s going to cut the legs off of AFGE and all of the locals.” He said the union's national leadership should have been better prepared to manage an expected downturn in revenue during Trump's second term.
Commentary: VA is selectively enforcing Trump’s order stripping workers of union rights
April 22, 2025 // But the same notice, without explanation, exempts eight small labor groups within the VA from Trump’s edict, effectively allowing them to retain their collective bargaining rights. Those unions include the Laborers International Union of North America, the Western Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, the Veterans Affairs Staff Nurse Council Local 5032 in Wisconsin, the International Association of Firefighters in Arkansas, the Teamsters Union Local 115 in Pennsylvania and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers in Hawaii. While Trump’s order exempts law enforcement and firefighter unions from losing their collective bargaining rights, that exception would apply only to the IAFF local.
Trump Order Could Cripple Federal Worker Unions Fighting DOGE Cuts
March 30, 2025 // The move added to the list of actions by Mr. Trump to use the levers of the presidency to weaken perceived enemies, in this case seeking to neutralize groups that represent civil servants who make up the “deep state” he is trying to dismantle. In issuing the order, Mr. Trump said he was using congressionally granted powers to designate certain sectors of the federal work force central to “national security missions,” and exempt from collective-bargaining requirements. Employees of some agencies, like the F.B.I. and the C.I.A., are already excluded from collective bargaining for these reasons.
OPINION: Federal Workers Shouldn’t Have Collective-Bargaining Rights
March 25, 2025 // To that end, Trump should push the GOP-controlled House and Senate to pass legislation banning federal workers from collectively bargaining. He and other leaders should frame that policy as a way to save taxpayers’ money. As the Institute for the American Worker has shown, the collective-bargaining process costs taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars yearly. Trump wouldn’t be the first president to oppose federal collective bargaining. Even liberal icon Franklin Delano Roosevelt rejected the practice, arguing that it made government less accountable. He was right. When federal unions negotiate with agencies, the taxpayers who fund them have no voice.
Op-ed: As unions fight reform, Trump should assert executive power
February 26, 2025 // Unfortunately, for decades, unions and their collective bargaining agreements have hamstrung presidents and the people they’ve chosen to run federal departments and agencies in all the wrong ways. Under a bill President Carter signed in 1978, the president cannot simply reject a proposed union agreement but must go before the Federal Service Impasses Panel, or arbitrator that can make him accept terms he doesn’t want. Also, union agreements prevent incompetent or unethical employees protected by a union from being fired or even having negative notes placed in their files without notice and an opportunity to bring grievance proceedings, where unions will back even the least deserving member to the hilt.
AFGE sees surge in new members as its lawsuits stall Trump’s federal workforce policies
February 11, 2025 // AFGE currently stands at 321,000 dues-paying members, its highest level ever, and is on track to reach 325,000 dues-paying members by the end of the week. Everett Kelley, the union’s national president, told reporters on Monday that AFGE originally planned to reach that membership goal by December 2025.
Trump fires US labor board member, hobbling agency amid legal battles
January 28, 2025 // As a board member, Wilcox voted to bar employers from holding mandatory anti-union meetings, to create a new path for unions to represent workers outside of the decades-old election process, and to make it easier to require companies to bargain with contract and franchise workers. Abruzzo in a statement said the board's efforts to empower workers in recent years would have a lasting impact. "So, if the Agency does not fully effectuate its congressional mandate in the future as we did during my tenure, I expect that workers with assistance from their advocates will take matters into their own hands," she said.
Unions Sue DOGE, Calling It ‘Unbalanced’ For Excluding Opponents Of Efficiency
January 20, 2025 // The lawsuit said AFGE’s president, Everett Kelley, requested that a representative of the federal employees union be appointed to the cost-cutting panel because AFGE “has a deep knowledge of the federal government.” It complains that Norm Eisen, a far-left lawyer and lawfare practitioner who has tried to thwart Trump, also applied, only to be told that “we have no room in our administration for Democrats.” The lawsuit claims that DOGE is an advisory committee that should be subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), which would require it to have members with balanced views, and meetings and materials open to the public. It said the Grace Commission, a Reagan-era cost-cutting panel, was structured under FACA.
Independent Contracting in 2025
January 8, 2025 // Independent contractors forgo workplace benefits that employees receive. Portable benefits are a way to give them access to benefits untethered from employment with one employer.
US labor board bans mandatory anti-union meetings in ruling against Amazon
November 13, 2024 // The decision could also be overturned by the board when it gains a Republican majority, as the agency often reverses itself after changes in leadership. President-elect Donald Trump could have a Republican-led board in place as soon as next year. At least 10 U.S. states including New York, California, and most recently Alaska have banned captive audience meetings or prohibited employers from disciplining workers who do not attend them. The NLRB said its decision would only be applied moving forward and not to pending cases.