Donald Trump, as a “businessman,” would hire people he would now term “dangerous illegal immigrants” to avoid having to pay union wages on his projects.
Go figure, then, that this guy would sign another of his executive orders to target unions, in the case of the latest attempt to rewrite federal law from our favorite failson, specifically targeting federal employees.
The order is aimed at stopping federal unions who have “declared war on President Trump’s agenda,” according to a fact sheet from the White House attached to the order, which aims to strip the collective-bargaining rights of more than 1 million federal workers.
ICYMI
The legal part of this is as strained as that single strand of hair that Trump wraps around his head to pretend that he’s not bald: it cites a clause of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 that, the person who wrote this for Trump claims, expands the list of agencies exempt from provisions of laws governing federal labor relations for national security reasons.
It’s not going to survive court challenges, but the Trumpkins, who are good at slow-walking and stonewalling, don’t care about losing in court.
They also don’t care about pissing off a million federal workers, because they know that they’re not going to vote MAGA anyway.
“President Trump’s latest executive order is a disgraceful and retaliatory attack on the rights of hundreds of thousands of patriotic American civil servants, nearly one-third of whom are veterans, simply because they are members of a union that stands up to his harmful policies,” American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley said in a statement.
“The executive order to eliminate collective bargaining rights for federal employees across the government is a brazen attempt by the administration to ensure its reckless assault on vital federal agency services can continue unimpeded,” National Treasury Employees Union National President Doreen Greenwald said in a statement.
Both union heads vowed to take the Trump administration to court, and as noted, they’ll eventually win, but it’s what happens between now and then that matters.
“Virginia is home to thousands of dedicated federal employees who work tirelessly every day to strengthen our communities, care for our veterans, and keep our communities safe. These nonpartisan professionals devote their careers to serving our nation, and they deserve a workplace safe from political interference or retaliation,” said Abigail Spanberger, a former Northern Virginia congresswoman who is the presumptive Democratic Party nominee for governor in the 2025 cycle.
Aha, consequences.
“Ending these protections threatens the livelihoods of families in communities across the Commonwealth, risks politicizing some of our country’s most consequential roles, and does nothing to make our government more efficient. Our leaders should be focused on making the Commonwealth safer and more affordable, not undermining Virginians’ rights,” Spanberger said.
Yes, indeed, a good number of those million federal employees that Trump is targeting here live in Virginia.
Get ready for that first rebuke from the voters there.
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Chris Graham
