IFPTE Federal Sector Round Up on Trump/Musk and
DOGE Attacks on Federal Workers
IFPTE continued our work this week on Capitol Hill, on the ground at the grassroots level, and in the legal arena to fight against the attacks on federal workers, federal agencies and on federal unions. IFPTE legislative director, Faraz Khan, was joined by IFPTE international representative, David LaFemina on Capitol Hill this week to meet with key staff to support recently introduced bipartisan legislation to reverse the latest Trump Executive Order (EO) to do away with collective bargaining rights and union dues payroll deduction. Below are details of this week’s activities.
Legislative:
1) IFPTE is urging Democrats and Republicans in the House of Representatives to cosponsor The Protect America’s Workers Act (HR 2550) introduced last week by Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and Democratic Rep. Jared Golden to repeal the Trump Executive Order eliminating collective bargaining rights for nearly 1 million federal workers. IFPTE obviously supports the bill and is hopeful to acquire enough cosponsors to trigger a discharge petition which would allow the bill to bypass committee action and be sent directly to the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote.
2) Legislative Director Faraz Khan continues to work with key Senators to procure a similar bill to the Fitzpatrick/Golden bill in the Senate.
3) Relatedly, Congressman Fitzpatrick also led a Republican only letter to President Trump asking him to rescind the Executive Order. See the GovExec article here.
4) IFPTE sent a letter to all Members of the House of Representatives urging them to vote No on a Budget Resolution that aims for $2 trillion in budget cuts, extends tax cuts that create $5.8 trillion in deficits, and instructs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to identify budget cuts of $50 billion over 10 years to be included in a Budget Reconciliation bill. These cuts are likely to come from increasing the cost that federal employees pay for their retirement and health benefits or cutting benefits. The Budget Resolution passed in the House by a vote of 218 to 216 and the House will begin crafting a Budget Reconciliation bill. Unlike all other legislation that needs 60 votes in the Senate to proceed, a Budget Reconciliation bill can move through and be passed by the Senate with a simple majority. IFPTE has been working in coalition with other federal unions to talk to Republican offices about why these changes to federal retirement and health benefits are unfair to federal workers, counterproductive, and ultimately harmful to their constituents. IFPTE members and supporters can take action and contact their Members of Congress here.
Legal:
1) AFGE filed a lawsuit with five other Unions on Monday in Federal Court in San Francisco asking the Courts to block the Trump Executive Order. See the Reuters article here.
2) IFPTE is expected to join a similar lawsuit in the coming week or so to block the Executive Order. In doing so, IFPTE put out a call asking Locals impacted by the Executive Order to provide evidence of repudiation of contracts or contract language, refusal to process grievances, or any other relevant injury to the Local and its members due to the Union-Busting Executive Order. Please contact IFPTE General Counsel, Teresa Ellis at tellis@ifpte.org with any pertinent information.
3) IFPTE RIF guidance to Locals – A March 11th memo from IFPTE GC Teresa Ellis and Greg McGillivary from the McGillivary law firm, regarding Reductions-In-Force (RIFs) and Mass Terminations of Federal Employees was sent in early-March to all IFPTE Federal Locals. Given that OPM, OMB and DOGE are mandating that federal agencies produce RIF lists by April 14th, we are including that guidance here in this week’s update for IFPTE Locals. See that RIF guidance memo and
· Contact IFPTE General Counsel, Teresa Ellis at tellis@ifpte.org to get a copy of the RIF guidance memo.
· See the February 26th OPM-issued memo instructing agencies to largely ignore RIF language in Union negotiated CBA’s and calling on agencies to identify positions to RIF by April 14. IFPTE is recommending that Locals file grievances if management refuses to abide negotiated RIF language in their respective CBAs.
4) IFPTE is a named plaintiff in the following lawsuits: While there are many Union and other lawsuits challenging the illegal actions of the Trump/Musk administration, below are the lawsuits (in addition to the above Privacy Act lawsuit) that IFPTE and IFPTE Locals are a named plaintiff in:
· NTEU-led lawsuit to protect probationary workers and other fed workers from wholesale firings and to save public services. The government has asked for a 30-day extension for its response, which is helpful for us as well.
· AALJ/IFPTE Judicial Council 1 and AFGE Privacy Act lawsuit to block DOGE from accessing personal and employment records through OPM.
· Class action/collected individual appeals for fired probationary workers – See IFPTE’s guidance to Locals regarding avenues for terminated probationary workers.
Status of all other lawsuits as tracked by Just Security: IFPTE members can view the status of all lawsuits filed about federal workers, Privacy Act, and other matters at the Just Security “Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions.”
Public Relations and Communications:
IFPTE continues to keep members informed about news within the federal and related topics with its regular clips emails. If you’d like to sign up to receive our clips, please fill out this form. Recent headlines of note:
NPR: Shortage of immigration judges could slow down Trump deportation goals
IFPTE President Matt Biggs describes yet another self-defeating Trump policy as “a head scratcher,” responding to the administration’s decision to target the very workers responsible for making the immigration system work.
The Daily Beast: DOGE Goons Cause Major Crash to Social Security Site
“The website crash isn’t the first symptom of problems after DOGE moved in. People have also reported long wait times on calls, the loss of direct deposit payments, and online accounts malfunctioning.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/elon-musks-doge-goons-cause-major-crash-to-social-security-site/
Nonprofit Quarterly: The Case for Solidarity Between Nonprofit and Federal Workers
“Nonprofit workers who are already members of unions should add their voices to federal workers fighting to protect the services they provide. In our organizations, we must flex our organizing muscles and engage management in conversations around solidarity with federal workers.”
https://nonprofitquarterly.org/the-case-for-solidarity-between-nonprofit-and-federal-workers/
IFPTE Local 400 