the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
May 28, 2018
On May 25, President Trump signed three executive orders reducing the rights of at least two million federal workers.
The first order shortens the time that a worker has to demonstrate improvement, if management claims they are a poor performer. It was 120 days, and will now be only 30 days. It also will make performance a more important factor than seniority when agencies have layoffs, thus throwing seniority out the window.
The second executive order directs federal agencies to negotiate contracts with employee unions that will allow the agencies to stop paying for union representatives in grievance appeal hearings.
The third order will limit union shop stewards or other lower level union representatives from spending more than 25 percent of their work time helping workers file grievances. This, of course, is to discourage grievances.
Trump’s executive orders are just one of the latest attacks his administration has made on workers and the unions.
We can hope that he waffles or changes this policy, as he has in many cases. But since he worries about losing political support, federal workers have good reason to shout out and make that happen!