{"id":127461,"date":"2024-11-19T01:28:47","date_gmt":"2024-11-18T18:28:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=127461"},"modified":"2024-11-19T01:28:47","modified_gmt":"2024-11-18T18:28:47","slug":"federal-workers-brace-for-trump-with-morale-as-low-as-its-ever-been-civil-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=127461","title":{"rendered":"Federal workers brace for Trump with morale \u2018as low as it\u2019s ever been\u2019 | Civil service"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"dcr-1eu361v\">Donald Trump\u2019s return to office sets the stage for harassment, intimidation and \u201cold-fashioned corruption\u201d to spread throughout the US federal government, a top union leader has warned.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1eu361v\">The president-elect and his allies have <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/biden-2024-government-regulations-democrats-6badc3b424b9eff3ba51e0ec35a8d824\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">expressed support<\/a> for the mass firing of civil service workers and abolishing certain government agencies upon his return to the White House.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1eu361v\">Officials at the heart of Trump\u2019s first administration have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2022\/07\/22\/trump-2025-radical-plan-second-term\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">spoken<\/a> of purging thousands of federal workers by using controversial powers to reshape the bureaucracy. Now, inside dozens of government agencies, staff are bracing for Trump\u2019s second administration.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"28f0c5ef-eec1-41a0-85d1-db0bf3768c1a\" data-spacefinder-role=\"richLink\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement\" class=\" dcr-1your1i\"><gu-island name=\"RichLinkComponent\" priority=\"feature\" deferuntil=\"idle\" props=\"{&quot;richLinkIndex&quot;:3,&quot;element&quot;:{&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement&quot;,&quot;prefix&quot;:&quot;Related: &quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Trump planning flurry of executive orders for first day, top aide says&quot;,&quot;elementId&quot;:&quot;28f0c5ef-eec1-41a0-85d1-db0bf3768c1a&quot;,&quot;role&quot;:&quot;richLink&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2024\/nov\/12\/trump-executive-orders&quot;},&quot;ajaxUrl&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/api.nextgen.guardianapps.co.uk&quot;,&quot;format&quot;:{&quot;design&quot;:0,&quot;display&quot;:0,&quot;theme&quot;:0}}\"\/><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-1eu361v\">\u201cIt\u2019s pretty bleak,\u201d said Steve Lenkart, executive director of the National Federation of Federal Employees, which <a href=\"https:\/\/nffe.org\/about\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">represents 110,000 employees <\/a>at various agencies around the US. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty grim.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1eu361v\">The former president attacked federal employees on the campaign trail, claiming they were \u201cdestroying this country\u201d in an August <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=G80iLTctFuY\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">podcast interview<\/a>. \u201cThey\u2019re crooked people, they\u2019re dishonest people,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re going to be held accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1eu361v\">Trump has signaled his support for reviving the Schedule F executive order he issued in the final days of his last administration, under which swaths of the federal workforce could be stripped of their civil servant protections and redefined as political appointees. Advocates of the policy claimed to have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.govexec.com\/workforce\/2022\/07\/trump-endorsed-plan-purge-civil-service-rogue-bureaucrats\/375028\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">identified<\/a> 50,000 employees that could be fired.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1eu361v\">\u201cIt\u2019s probably been 150 years since we had something like this happen,\u201d Lenkart said, pointing to the Pendleton Act, which in 1883 mandated that federal employees be hired based on merit, subject to competitive exams, and protected from political influences.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1eu361v\">\u201cOne hundred and fifty years of hard lessons learned are all erased,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd now you\u2019ve taken away that ability for federal employees to report bad things they see; you take away the ability of an employee to resist an illegal order, or an order that\u2019s a political overreach of some kind, or simply a threat of old-fashioned corruption, stealing stuff, helping someone gain a market or consolidate their personal wealth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1eu361v\">\u201cIt\u2019s old-fashioned corruption that is going to come back, too, because of people looking to make money off of this authority that federal employees have.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1eu361v\">Schedule F allows an unlimited number of political appointees to be hired into the federal government, as direct hires with no expiration date based on presidential terms, Lenkart said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1eu361v\">The success of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/article\/2024\/nov\/04\/what-is-project-2025-trump\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Project 2025<\/a>, the rightwing plan for Trump\u2019s presidency, \u201crevolves around\u201d the implementation of Schedule F, he added: reclassifying roles typically filled by career government employees as political, \u201cand having the ability to, you know, threaten, harass, intimidate or fire them\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1eu361v\">Emboldened by a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/ng-interactive\/2024\/jul\/01\/supreme-court-decision-trump-immunity-ruling\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">supreme court decision<\/a> earlier this year that former presidents are entitled to some degree of immunity from criminal prosecution, Trump is \u201cgoing to do some pretty amazing things that we\u2019ve never seen before, and I think it\u2019s going to be pretty horrible\u201d, said Lenkart.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1eu361v\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.afge.org\/article\/union-membership-in-federal-sector-went-up-in-2023\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">More than 1 million federal employees<\/a> in the US are unionized, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2024\/08\/15\/nx-s1-5052728\/federal-labor-unions-trump-project-f-2025\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">about half<\/a> of the 2.1 million-strong civilian workforce in the federal government.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1eu361v\">During his first administration, Trump chipped away at labor rights inside the federal government, shortening the time frame for collective bargaining, directing agencies not to bargain over certain issues, limiting the use of official work time for union business by federal employees and scaling back due process protections for employees.<\/p>\n<figure data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.NewsletterSignupBlockElement\" class=\" dcr-173mewl\"><a data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" href=\"#EmailSignup-skip-link-15\" class=\"dcr-jzxpee\">skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n<aside aria-label=\"newsletter promotion\" class=\"dcr-av5vqf\">\n<div class=\"dcr-10et71f\">\n<p class=\"dcr-rsfwa\">Sign up to <span>The Stakes \u2014 Presidential Transition<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"dcr-1xjndtj\">We will guide you through the aftermath of the US election and the transition to a Trump presidency<\/p>\n<p><gu-island name=\"SecureSignup\" priority=\"feature\" deferuntil=\"visible\" props=\"{&quot;newsletterId&quot;:&quot;the-stakes-us-election-edition&quot;,&quot;successDescription&quot;:&quot;We will guide you through the aftermath of the US election and the transition to a Trump presidency&quot;}\"\/><span class=\"dcr-1eusqlu\"><strong>Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our <a data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/help\/privacy-policy\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"dcr-1rjy2q9\">Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google <a data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" href=\"https:\/\/policies.google.com\/privacy\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"dcr-1rjy2q9\">Privacy Policy<\/a> and <a data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" href=\"https:\/\/policies.google.com\/terms\" rel=\"noreferrer\" class=\"dcr-1rjy2q9\">Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/span><\/aside>\n<p id=\"EmailSignup-skip-link-15\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-label=\"after newsletter promotion\" role=\"note\" class=\"dcr-jzxpee\">after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-1eu361v\">At federal agencies, unions expect such measures to return. Inside the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) \u2013 the government agency tasked with enforcing federal labor laws and protecting the rights of workers across the US \u2013 the workforce is worried.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1eu361v\">\u201cMorale is about as low as it\u2019s ever been,\u201d said Michael Bilik, executive vice-president of the NLRB Union, which represents attorneys, investigators and administrative professionals in the agency\u2019s field offices. It is already grappling with underfunding, staffing shortages and growing delays in processing cases, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1eu361v\">\u201cI\u2019m hearing questions, especially from new employees, like: \u2018Should I be looking for another job?\u2019 \u2018Am I going to be the first to go since I was the last one hired?\u2019\u201d Bilik said. \u201cI don\u2019t think people fully understand the impact this could have, especially on smaller agencies like ours. It will further erode our day-to-day work resolving labor disputes, which benefits no one.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1eu361v\">Limiting official time for union matters will \u201cstrain labor relations\u201d within the NLRB,\u201d he added. \u201cOur work will suffer, our union will be weakened, and the agency\u2019s ability to function will be compromised if our staff and union are undermined.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1eu361v\">\u201cWe\u2019re in a very precarious position right now. Our backlog is skyrocketing, and we urgently need funding and personnel \u2013 not punitive restrictions on our basic ability to operate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1eu361v\">AFGE Local 1003, which represents non-supervisory Environmental Protection Agency employees in Texas and surrounding states, is braced for a tough four years. During the first Trump administration, the union at the EPA was operating under an expired contract, and it only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/newsreleases\/us-epa-signs-new-bargaining-agreement-afge\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">reached<\/a> a new one this summer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1eu361v\">Under Trump, managers used a directive \u201cwhich supplanted our expired contract at that time and caused a whole bunch of chaos, problems and headaches for the unions at the agency\u201d, Justin Chen, president of AFGE Local 1003, said. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t represent employees and grievances while on duty time. Essentially, they took away our offices and significantly shrunk our rights as the representation for the bargaining unit employees.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1eu361v\">Inside Trump World, there has been talk of replacing federal workers with \u201cpatriots\u201d who live in communities nationwide. \u201cWe\u2019re already out in these communities,\u201d said Chen. \u201cWe\u2019re just regular folks doing our jobs out over here as best as we can. We\u2019ve often taken these positions because we have a love of our country.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/2024\/nov\/18\/trump-federal-worker-civil-service-protections\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Donald Trump\u2019s return to office sets the stage for harassment, intimidation and \u201cold-fashioned corruption\u201d to spread throughout the US federal government, a top union leader has warned. The president-elect and &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=127461\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8629],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-u-s","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=127461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127461\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=127461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=127461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=127461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}