From the return of Schedule F to attacks on union contracts, it’s not easy being a federal employee these days. To Barbara and Rick Hanson, it’s nice to have each other to turn to when the going gets tough as they navigate the workscape under the second Trump administration as officers of AFGE locals in Montana.
Barbara and Rick have been married for more than 40 years. She has been a Transportation Security Officer (TSO) at Billings-Logan International Airport for more than 10 years and a regional vice president for Local 1127 the last two years. He retired from his job as an archaeologist at the Bureau of Reclamation at the end of 2023 but remains involved in AFGE as president of Local 1124 while in the process of finding new officers to carry on this important work.
Despite working for different agencies and having different paths to unionism, they have the same goal of improving the lives of their colleagues and workers in general.
Barbara joined AFGE four years ago and became a steward when she had a question about a work issue but there was no union representation at her airport after the only steward had left TSA. She decided to step up, went to steward training, and soon became a regional vice president overseeing five airports in the area.
“This is the first time I ever joined the union, but with Rick being in the union, I knew the ins and outs of everything,” she recalled.
Rick recognized the advantages of being in a union early on, being raised by his father who tried to organize his workplace. He joined a union wherever he worked, including at the Bobcat factory in Montana, the Army Corps of Engineer, and the U.S. Forest Service. He knows that whatever gains unions win, including a 40-hour work week, leave, and better pay, non-unionized workers benefit too.
“I grew up pro union, so when there was an opportunity when I came to the Bureau of Reclamation in 2010, and there was already a union here, I joined. A few years in, I started being a secretary,” Rick recounted his journey at AFGE.
They met in 1983 at a pizza restaurant in Valley City, N.D., where Rick worked at the time. She was going to college and came in with friends. They stuck up a conversation and started dating and got married a year and a half later. Their little family soon grew to include three kids.
Asked what they love about each other, Barbara said, “He’s friendly, compassionate. He’ll listen. He’s my best friend.”
“Likewise,” Rick responded. “She’s a hard worker, dedicated and does things without being asked. She’s a good mother.”
“I think you’re a great dad too,” she replied.
In a major victory for AFGE, allies, and federal workers, a judge in California ordered the Trump administration to reinstate probationary employees fired at six agencies.
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AFGE and allies last week filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for unlawfully and unilaterally terminating a negotiated union contract, which protects approximately 47,000 Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) across the country.
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Week 8 saw the economy in chaos while Trump and Musk attacked the Education Department, Environmental Protection Agency, Social Security, and Medicare.
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