WASHINGTON—Union leaders are applauding the Senate introduction of the Protect American Workers Act, legislation to restore the collective bargaining rights for more than a million federal workers, which right-wing President Donald Trump unilaterally attacked earlier this year.
But the measure’s outlook is uncertain. Congress is consumed with a struggle over money bills to keep the government going beyond midnight on September 30. Everything else—except for a recess for the Jewish holidays—takes a back seat.
The measure has bipartisan House support, as Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., is the lead co-sponsor, with Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine. But it’s sunk from sight since its unveiling there on April 1. Dozens of House Democrats also back it.
In the House, despite the GOP leadership’s blockade, Golden and Fitzpatrick lead the charge for the bill. Labor is lobbying lawmakers to defy the leaders and sign a seldom-used “discharge petition” to bring the bill to the floor for an up-or-down vote. That needs the signatures of a majority of House members—218—to overcome the House GOP leadership’s ire.
The dim outlook doesn’t faze AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, other union presidents, or senatorial sponsors Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Mark Warner, D-Va., and Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.
All are foes of what Shuler calls “the biggest act of union-busting in our history, ripping away collective bargaining rights from a million federal workers,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler.
Trump’s first executive order, ripping away contracts covering more than 30 groups of agency workers, deprived the first million of their rights. He’s since issued a second order, trashing contracts covering 450,000 more. The Protect America’s Workers Act would override both Trump dictates.
“These moves are an assault on our fundamental freedoms and undercut critical services people across the country rely on,” Shuler added.
Stripping federal workers of their union rights and contracts also benefits Trump’s corporate backers. Led by oligarchs Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Elon Musk of Tesla, they hate unions and workers. Those two have even won a federal appellate court ruling declaring the structure of the National Labor Relations Board unconstitutional
“President Trump’s March executive order stripping most of the federal workforce of collective bargaining rights represents the single most aggressive action taken by the federal government against organized labor in U.S. history, dwarfing any previous action against public or private sector working Americans,” said American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) President Everett Kelley, a veteran whose union is hurt the most by Trump’s trashing.
Passing the measure would help restore “the nonpartisan civil service, the women and men who serve in it, and the critical role collective bargaining played for decades in fostering a safe, productive, and collaborative workplace that serves” everyone. the American people.”
When federal workers “have the freedom to collectively bargain for safe working conditions and strong public services, we all benefit,” said AFSCME President Lee Saunders. “The billionaires running this administration are hell-bent on rigging our government to line their own pockets, and silencing federal workers is how they plan to do it.”
Passing the “very important” bill “is key in reversing the attack on civil servants,” added Machinists President Brian Bryant, many of whose members are civilians working at U.S. defense facilities. “Federal workers are essential to the livelihood and prosperity of the U.S., and these workers rightly deserve the right of collective bargaining, which provides benefits like protections in the workplace and better service to the public.”
“At agencies that support military readiness, advance scientific breakthroughs and space exploration, and protect communities and commerce from environmental hazards, our federal sector local unions have a long and proud history of making sure federal employees and federal agencies can succeed and serve the American public,” Professional and Technical Engineers President Matt Biggs explained.
“We know full well the Trump Administration’s executive orders to deny more than one million federal workers their bargaining rights on a bogus national security rationale makes this the most anti-labor, anti-worker administration in United States history.”
Trump’s “union-busting executive order…has proven to be detrimental to federal workers and the essential services they provide to the American people every day,” added Randy Irwin, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees, a Machinists sector.
“Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle understand that if this bill is not passed into law, their constituents will suffer the consequences.”
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