Momentum is growing in the fight to overturn President Trump’s illegal and destructive directives stripping collective bargaining rights from most federal employees.
On Sept. 17, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia led a bipartisan coalition of 48 U.S. senators in introducing legislation that would overturn President Trump’s March executive order stripping more than 1 million federal workers of their collective bargaining rights, as well as a second executive order Trump issued in August extending the directive to tens of thousands of employees at other agencies.
“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,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said.
“AFGE members are grateful to Sen. Warner for introducing the Protect America’s Workforce Act and standing up for the nonpartisan civil service, the women and men who serve in it, and the critical role that collective bargaining has played for decades in fostering a safe, productive, and collaborative workplace that serves the American people.”
The Senate bill was introduced by Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia, Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, Chuck Schumer of New York, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, and Alex Padilla of California. It is sponsored by every member of the Democratic caucus, as well as Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
The Senate bill is a companion to House legislation introduced in April that currently has the bipartisan support of 223 lawmakers. Due to inaction from House leadership on bringing the bill to a vote, lawmakers have introduced a discharge petition that would bring the bill to the House floor for an immediate vote – bypassing the typical procedural impediments.
The discharge petition needs 218 signatures to compel a vote on the House bill. So far, the petition has been signed by 216 members of Congress: 213 Democrats and 3 Republicans.
“Bipartisan momentum is already building in the House, where lawmakers are collecting the final signatures on a discharge petition to bring this bill to a vote,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. “The labor movement looks forward to working with senators to stop the senseless assault on workers who provide essential government services to communities across America. The labor movement stands united behind this bill, and we call on every senator — Democrat, Republican and independent — to keep their promise to workers by backing this legislation.”
AFGE encourages its members to call their congressional offices and make sure that their representative has sponsored the discharge petition to bring the Protect America’s Workforce Act to a vote.
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