Posts tagged Military
Backgrounder: Trump Civil Service Reform Proposed Rule
April 27, 2025 // On April 23, 2025, OPM proposed a new rule to improve accountability for federal career employees, especially those in policy roles. The rule implements President Trump’s Executive Order 14171, which he signed on his first day in office. Executive Order 14171 explicitly directed OPM to render civil service regulations implemented during the Biden administration inoperative, citing the President’s authority to manage the executive branch. Among other things, the rule would create a new job category called Schedule Policy/Career in the excepted service for policy-influencing positions, making them at-will employees and, therefore, meaningfully accountable for their performance and conduct.
Trump’s stance on unions is what Roosevelt wanted all along
April 11, 2025 // Trump’s executive order, even with its limitations, addresses a longstanding problem in federal governance. The question isn’t whether you support unions or management, but whether you believe the government should prioritize serving citizens over protecting entrenched union interests, regardless of which party controls the White House.
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.
Memorandum: Military spouses exempt from federal return-to-office mandate
February 17, 2025 // The exemption follows bipartisan legislation introduced last week by U.S. Reps. Eugene Vindman, D-Va., and Rob. Wittman, R-Va., to exempt military spouses from the mandate, which they argued were adversely impacting the community. The congressmen praised the decision by OPM to grant the exemption, crediting bipartisan advocacy and saying it is simply “common sense.”
Conservative Supreme Court hands down a rare pro-union decision
June 5, 2023 // Unlike appearing before lower courts, lawyers at the Supreme Court not only argue the application of the law, but also “what the law should be” because the justices can overturn precedent. The Ohio decision, he said, is important because it reinforces “the rights of federal-sector unions to exist and to collectively bargain and to work in a civilian capacity.”
Supreme Court to Ponder Union Rights for National Guard Techs
January 10, 2023 // The US Supreme Court will hear oral argument over whether to strip federal-sector labor law rights from the National Guard’s dual-status technicians, a unique type of federal employee who works for state militias. The justices on Monday will review a federal appeals court decision blessing the Federal Labor Relations Authority’s jurisdiction over a dispute stemming from the Ohio National Guard’s attempt to oust an American Federation of Government Employees affiliate that represents Guard technicians. The high court is hearing Ohio’s bid to evade federal oversight—an obstacle to ejecting the AFGE affiliate—despite agreement among all six federal appeals courts that have ruled on the issue.
Can the trend of decreasing employee unions be reversed?
March 14, 2022 // A task force established by the Biden administration has issued dozens of recommendations for unionizing federal agencies and contractors. Will it have any effect? After all, the percentage of the workforce that is organized has been falling steadily for years. For analysis, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to the managing partner of the D.C. office of the law firm Tully Rinckey, Dan Meyer.