A panel of Trump’s union-busting appointees has imposed anti-worker provisions in a new labor-management contract for the people who ensure elderly Americans and those with disabilities can live with dignity and financial security.

The Trump administration tried and failed in court to silence federal workers and gut workplace rights through its illegal executive orders. Now, the administration, through SSA management, is implementing key portions of the illegal executive orders through the collective bargaining process.

The administration used the Federal Service Impasses Panel (FSIP) to skirt the court’s decision and impose these bad provisions in a contract between SSA and its employees. FSIP, which considers the best last offers of both sides and imposes a new contract, is stacked with anti-union political appointees who are not fair or impartial.

Trump’s FSIP has just issued its decision. Here are some of the provisions it imposed on SSA employees:

• Allow management to unilaterally exclude employees from telework, disrupting their lives and schedules;
• Eliminate current parking arrangements for all employees, potentially disrupting daily commutes and transit schedules;
• Slash by 80% the amount of time union representatives can spend representing employees;
• Deny union officers the office space currently provided by the agency;
• Eliminate over 1,400 memorandums of understanding and supplemental agreements that were previously part of the collective bargaining agreement; and
• Impose the contract terms for seven years.

“The move is clearly part of a government-wide effort to attack any rightful dissent from federal workers and our union,” said AFGE President J. David Cox Sr. “It is also a backdoor way to get rid of workers, and thus the services they provide to the American people.”

A group of 154 bipartisan members of Congress led by Rep. Jan Schakowsky last month wrote to the acting head of SSA to express their dismay with anti-union policies and tactics that the agency was pursuing during contract negotiations with our union.

Our union is exploring options for our next steps.