Weekly Union Recap May 5, 2025

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IFPTE Federal Sector Round Up on Trump/Musk and
DOGE Attacks on Federal Workers

This week brought another flurry of activity by IFPTE and the larger labor movement to combat the Trump Administration’s illegal and unjustified attacks on federal workers. This week also saw the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, led by the Republican majority, pass a draconian set of proposals that cut federal pensions and implements other draconian, anti-federal worker proposals, to potentially be included in a budget reconciliation bill aimed to force federal workers and others to pay for tax cuts for billionaires and corporations. The proposals that passed the House Committee include:

  • Raises the FERS retirement contribution rate for all federal and postal employees to 4.4% of their salary.
  • Eliminates the FERS supplement payment for federal employees retiring before age 62 (federal occupations with retirement required before age 62 are exempted).
  • Bases a federal retiree’s annuity payment on their average highest five earning years, instead of the current highest three earning years.
  • Makes new federal employee hires choose to be “at will” employees without merit system protections or choose to maintain merit system protections and pay an additional 5% FERS contribution rate, totaling 9.4% of pay, which is effectively a 5% pay cut.
  • Charges federal employees a fee for Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) filings equivalent to the fee for filing a civil lawsuit in federal district court, which is $350.

You can read more about these proposals, which IFPTE, the larger movement, and IFPTE Locals have opposed, here.

Finally, IFPTE continues its work in building an E-Dues program that is expected to be launched next week in a pilot phase (Locals 1, 32, 121 and 1921), with other Locals to follow thereafter.

Legislative:

1)       Congress came back from a two-week recess this week and IFPTE continues to urge Democrats and Republicans in the House of Representatives to cosponsor The Protect America’s Workers Act (HR 2550) introduced three weeks ago by Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and Democratic Rep. Jared Golden to repeal the Trump Executive Order (EO) eliminating collective bargaining rights for 1.5 million federal workers. As of Friday, May 2, 199 members of Congress are sponsoring the bill, but we are working to have at least 218 cosponsors, which is also the number needed to force a discharge petition and full vote of the House of Representatives. See IFPTE’s letter supporting the House bill.

2)       Legislative Director Faraz Khan continues to work with key Senators to procure a similar bill to the Fitzpatrick-Golden bill in the Senate. Call your Congressional Representative and ask them to cosponor the bipartisan Protect America’s Workforce Act.

3)       Tell Congress: Hands Off Federal Employees’ Retirement Benefits and Merit System Protections.  On Wednesday, April 30, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is proposing to cut $51 billion over the next ten years from the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) and make other changes that undermine our nonpartisan civil service. Congress will be considering passing these spending cuts in a budget reconciliation bill that will include between $1.5 to $2 trillion in spending cuts to offset a portion of $4.5 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthy and for corporations (the $2.5 to 3 billion in tax cuts that aren’t offset will result in a significant increase to the federal deficit). Slashing retirement benefits and reducing the take-home pay of federal workers will trigger an exodus of experienced and skilled federal workers and hollow out agencies that provide essential services and functions. Congress needs to hear from everyday Americans that lawmakers should be preserving the government’s ability to recruit and retain the best talent America has to offer to address the challenges our nation faces, support our national security and economic prosperity, provide the American people with high-quality services, and keep our communities safe. Even though the House Oversight Committee passed these cuts this week, it is not too late to weigh in. This fight is far from over. Email Your Representative and Senators and urge them to oppose any cuts to federal employees’ retirement benefits, any reductions to take-home pay, and any effort to force newly hired federal employees to choose between pay and civil service protections.

4)       Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA) introduced two IFPTE-endorsed bills that would protect federal workers and give fired federal workers an opportunity to return to the civil service. The “Restoring Employment and Hiring Incentives for Removed Employees Act” or REHIRE Act would rebuild the federal workforce by providing a hiring preference for federal workers who were fired or otherwise involuntarily removed during the Trump Administration and the ‘‘Probationary Reduction for Employee Protections Act’’ or PREP Act would clarify that federal employees who are new to the competitive service have a 1-year probationary period, and employees who are moving to a new competitive service position from another position will have a 6-month  probationary period. Read more here.  

5)       The Congressional Labor Caucus, led by pro-labor caucus Co-Chairs Donald Norcross (D-NJ), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Debbie Dingell (D-MI), and Steve Horsford (D-NV), have been leading voices inside Congress on the attacks on federal workers and their unions. On April 30, the Labor Caucus released its report on the Trump Administration’s attack on workers’ rights and labor union across all sectors. Read the 10-page report here [PDF].

Legal:

1)       EO 14251 – On April 28, the D.C. District Court issued an opinion to accompany its April 25 order issuing a preliminary injunction against Executive Order 14251. This EO attempts to strip collective bargaining rights from the vast majority of the federal workforce under the pretext of a statutory national security exemption. The court specifically noted in its opinion that the union challenged the EO in its entirety and that the lack of evidence of any impact on national security correspondingly warrants “enjoining Section 2 of the Executive Order in its entirety.” (emphasis supplied). NTEU v. Trump, Case No. 1:25-cv-935 (D.D.C.), Dkt. 34 at 44-45.” This means that the administration is prevented from implementing the order at all, including in agencies like the Department of Defense and Social Security Administration, where IFPTE represents tens of thousands of workers. We note that the injunction has been appealed to the D.C. Circuit, and that we do expect the merits of the case to eventually reach the Supreme Court.   See the NTEU lawsuit here.

2)       As part of the overall litigation strategy, IFPTE is expected to join a similar coalition lawsuit when the time is right based on the litigation making its way through various courts to block the Executive Order. In preparation, IFPTE asks Locals impacted by the Executive Order to provide evidence of damage done to the Local and members due to the union busting EO. Please contact IFPTE General Counsel, Teresa Ellis at tellis@ifpte.org with any pertinent information regarding specific impacts from the imposition of the EO.

3)       IFPTE RIF guidance to Locals – We continue to include the March 11 memo from IFPTE GC, Teresa Ellis, and Greg McGillivary of the McGillivary Steele Elkin law firm regarding Reductions-In-Force (RIFs) and Mass Terminations of Federal Employees, given that OPM, OMB and DOGE mandated that federal agencies produce RIF lists by April 14.  See that RIF guidance memo here.

  • See the February 26 OPM 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 recommends that Locals file grievances if management refuses to abide negotiated RIF language in their respective CBAs.

4)       Legal support for federal workers – Rise Up, Fight Back – Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have had their basic rights violated on the job—including tens of thousands who have been fired illegally. Federal workers have an urgent need for legal support. Federal workers now have a network of lawyers helping to get them the justice they deserve.   See the GovExec article here.  

5)       Status of all lawsuits against the current administration can be found at Just Security: “Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions.”

Grassroots

1)       “Civil Service Strong” coalition – IFPTE is proud to announce our partnership with the Civil Service Strong project of Democracy Forward, along with other unions, to support our members who are civil servants under attack by the Trump administration. Alongside the 95% of people who believe civil servants should be hired and promoted based on their merit rather than their political beliefs, Civil Service Strong is committed to supporting a career, non-partisan civil service and the people who power it. Learn more here.

2)       MAKE A CALL – Restore Federal Employee Rights Now – IFPTE joins the AFL-CIO campaign asking every single American who cares about the fundamental freedom of all workers to join a union to call their member of Congress right now. Fill out the form on the right to receive a call or dial 844-896-5059. Learn more here.

3)       IFPTE Members are telling their Congressional lawmakers: “Hands Off Federal Employees’ Retirement Benefits and Merit System Protection” While IFPTE and other federal unions are working in coalition to oppose the inclusion of any “reforms” that increase the cost of federal employee benefits or cut benefits, lawmakers need to hear from their constituents. Email your Representative and Senators.  The proposals under consideration go after civil service protections by making any newly hired federal workers choose between “at will” employment and paying a lower FERS contribution rate or retaining merit system rights and paying a higher FERS contribution rate. Merit system rights are not merely protections for federal workers, they protect Americans by providing accountable and professional management of government that works for the American public, not partisan causes and not corrupt private interests. Tell Congress to oppose any cuts or “reforms” to earned federal employment benefits, including changes to the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) and Federal Employees Health Program (FEHB), as a cost offset for budget reconciliation legislation. Learn more here…

Public Relations and Communications

1)         IFPTE’s Mobilization Clearinghouse Visit IFPTE’s central location to find information on labor events, rallies, and Congressional email and call-in campaigns as we collectively fight to defend federal government workers and union rights and protect our democracy. If you have an upcoming event or action that you’d like to add to this list, please send information to info@ifpte.org.

2)       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:


HEADLINE: Trump 100 days: tariffs, egg prices, Ice arrests and approval rating – in charts
The Guardian

BLUF: Bad stuff going up, good stuff going down.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/apr/30/trumps-first-100-days-charts

HEADLINE: Even if you don’t depend on Medicaid, you’ll likely be hurt if Republicans cut it
MSNBC

If congressional Republicans and Trump include Medicaid cuts in the federal budget, then they’d start a dramatic nationwide cascade of harm in red and blue states — and in rural, suburban and urban areas. https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/medicaid-cuts-republicans-trump-rcna203010

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