Posted on Mar 28, 2025
Trump signs order ending union bargaining rights for wide swaths of federal employees
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President Trump has signed an executive order ending collective bargaining for wide swaths of federal employees, as part of his broader campaign to reshape the U.S. government's workforce. The largest federal employee union says the order affects over 1 million workers.
Trump signs order ending union bargaining rights for wide swaths of federal employees
Posted from npr.org
Unions
Civil Service
Toxic Leadership
Equality
Posted 11 mo ago
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Collective bargaining is pretty much the main reason why GS payscales remain within 75%-80% of the private sector equivalent, making it affordable for people to actually choose to serve as a job.
It's also there to help ensure that the federal workforce remains protected from at will firing without cause.
It's also there to help ensure that the federal workforce remains protected from at will firing without cause.
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SGM Jeff Mccloud
Maj John Bell - over the entire aggregate, sure.
During a break in service, I once briefly had a govt job hanging microwave antennas on towers and building out the radio circuits, cross-connects and power supply in vaults. That govt job required a HS diploma and an FCC license.
That job paid 60% of the private sector starting pay, and my supervisor with 14 yrs on the lob made 10% more than me.
Our union had not gotten a pay comparison study done for over 20 years at that point and there was none scheduled. I left for active duty that year, and about a dozen left to work for Verizon.
During a break in service, I once briefly had a govt job hanging microwave antennas on towers and building out the radio circuits, cross-connects and power supply in vaults. That govt job required a HS diploma and an FCC license.
That job paid 60% of the private sector starting pay, and my supervisor with 14 yrs on the lob made 10% more than me.
Our union had not gotten a pay comparison study done for over 20 years at that point and there was none scheduled. I left for active duty that year, and about a dozen left to work for Verizon.
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MSG Thomas Currie
Both those are by law, not through collective bargaining. Yes, the unions (there are several) lobby for pay raises, but the pay scale is at the whims of Congress.
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AN Ron Wright
From what I see. It’s all the other benefits why peeps want the gvmt job. Not so much the pay side of the house
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SGM Jeff Mccloud
AN Ron Wright - health care buy in is about the same.
You can do much better with your matching 401k and some individual retirement investing with a higher salary than you would do with FERS over 20 years of employment.
You can do much better with your matching 401k and some individual retirement investing with a higher salary than you would do with FERS over 20 years of employment.
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I'd love to see that "by educational attainment" graph separately by department. I strongly suspect that most of the difference comes from the department with the largest number of civilian employees (Defense at 34% of the workforce).
I would also strongly suspect that the difference is shrinking among Defense civilian employees as the education level of military personnel is going up. Defense has many positions at the GS-9 to GS-12 level filled by retired or separated enlisted personnel who qualified on the basis of specialized experience. Until fairly recently it was unusual for enlisted personnel to hold a college degree.
Interestingly enough many defense civilian positions allow for counting education as a substitute for required specialized experience -- when hiring officials substitute education for experience the result generally accomplishes little beyond improving certain demographic statistics at the cost of performance.
I would also strongly suspect that the difference is shrinking among Defense civilian employees as the education level of military personnel is going up. Defense has many positions at the GS-9 to GS-12 level filled by retired or separated enlisted personnel who qualified on the basis of specialized experience. Until fairly recently it was unusual for enlisted personnel to hold a college degree.
Interestingly enough many defense civilian positions allow for counting education as a substitute for required specialized experience -- when hiring officials substitute education for experience the result generally accomplishes little beyond improving certain demographic statistics at the cost of performance.
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The extent of any changes in collective bargaining will be determined in the courts -- meaning that any real impact will be a year or more in the future.
Collective bargaining for federal employees is already VERY different from non-government collective bargaining, because most of the issues involved in traditional (non-government) collective bargaining are already off the table for federal government employees. Unions cannot bargain over salaries, holidays, vacation, and other issues that are set by law. Collective bargaining for feds is generally limited to "working conditions" and often turns out to be about trivia like parking spaces.
Collective bargaining for federal employees is already VERY different from non-government collective bargaining, because most of the issues involved in traditional (non-government) collective bargaining are already off the table for federal government employees. Unions cannot bargain over salaries, holidays, vacation, and other issues that are set by law. Collective bargaining for feds is generally limited to "working conditions" and often turns out to be about trivia like parking spaces.
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