All of the 2.1 million job federal employees, the majority of whom work from home, may be instructed to either show up at their official work facilities or to find new ones outside of state, according to President-elect Donald Trump’s Day One interests.
Advertisement
Federal employee unions, which have been working feverishly since Trump’s massive November 5 reelection victory, have already secured at least one agreement, with the Social Security Administration ( SSA ) that protects that agency’s employees ‘ teleworking access for another five years.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa ) rebuffed President Joe Biden’s request earlier this month to direct federal department and agency heads to halt any pending negotiations. The Iowa Republican stated in a statement she released at the same time:
” Officials have been found in a bubble bath, on the golf course, running their own business, and also getting busted doing violence while on citizens ‘ time”, the statement stated. ” Members of President]Joe ] Biden’s own Cabinet claimed to be on the clock while being out of office and unreachable.
Prior to the pandemic, only 3 percentage of the federal labor worked remotely every day. Nowadays, 6 percent of workers report in-person on a full-time foundation, while almost one-third are fully remote. The majority of federal employees are qualified to telecommuting, and 90 % of them are. Some only visit the office once per week.
And thus it’s no wonder that Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky. ) noted in his latest” Festivus Report,” that, among more than$ 1 trillion in examples of federal spending he believes are wasteful or unnecessary, the federal government spent an estimated$ 10 billion in 2024″ maintaining, leasing, and furnishing almost entirely empty buildings.”
Advertisement
Visitors should be aware that the typical federal employee earns more than$ 106, 000 annually, just to put this in perspective. By comparison, the average annual household income in America in 2023 was$ 80, 610, or almost 33 % less than the government worker.
Although there are times when working from home can increase the productivity of individual employees, Joe Lunch Box, who doesn’t work for the government, is generally aware of this and makes sure the employer is aware that when he does, he has to make sure the employer is aware that he has done something creative.
Federal employee unions, especially the largest one, the American Federation of Government Employees ( AFGE ), will do everything in their power to frustrate, blunt, and delay Trump’s forthcoming Executive Order. They may place a lot of obstacles in the approaching White House administration’s way.
The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization ( PATCO )’s leaders may want to relive their memories of the union’s decision to launch a strike on the federal worker unions. Reagan had been endorsed by PATCO during the battle in 1980.
But on Aug. 3, 1981, when the coalition called a strike against the federal government, more than 12, 000 PATCO people walked off their work. Reagan gave the protesters 48 hours to resume their employment, admonishing them that there would be no agreements and sanctions.  ,
Advertisement
Those who didn’t return to work were fired. Not long afterward, PATCO became the first federal employee union to be decertified by the Federal Labor Relations Authority ( FLRA ) in history. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association ( NATCA ) serves as the representative body for air traffic controllers today.
In order to eliminate$ 2 trillion worth of wasteful and/or fraudulent federal spending, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, co-leaders of Trump’s upcoming Department of Government Efficiency ( DOGE ), are placing federal teleworking among their priorities.
They may anticipate federal staff unions that are fervently supported by the private sector’s larger labor movement, Democrats in Congress, and the conventional media in opposition to Trump’s effort to reform the federal government by, among other things, reforming the national workforce.
That criticism will be in the judges, in the media, in Congress, in education, and everywhere else coalition leaders and federal employee advocates you demand an audience. Reagan remained strong in her fight for the law that made it unlawful for federal employees to strike against the general public. Will Trump, Musk, and Ramaswamy remain as strong as the Great Communicator was?
