In a sweeping effort to redefine the federal workforce, President Donald Trump said on Friday that no collective bargaining agreements concluded within 30 days of his inauguration will be approved. This move would effectively block deals sealed during the final days of the Biden administration, which Trump accused of having “poured resources into schemes aimed at frustrating” his own administration by protracting “wasteful and failing policies.”
He penned a memo to heads of all executive departments and agencies, describing such agreements as “lame-duck collective bargaining agreements.” The true extent of the number of agreements affected is unknown but primarily deals with agreements between unions and the federal employees to determine working conditions, pay, and other conditions of employment.
The directive falls under the broader efforts by Trump to revamp the federal government, including sidelining civil servants and mostly loyalists takeover of key positions. The memo upheld a collective bargaining agreement of the Department of Education, which was made on the eve of Trump’s inauguration and prohibited the agency from requiring remote employees to return to the offices.
Trump signed a series of memos to support an executive order that mandates federal employees return to in-person work five days a week, reversing the remote working trend that began during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a part of an administration push to downsize the bureaucracy and reduce the likelihood of dissident employees within the administrative machinery.
Trump’s administration is actively dismantling what it deems bureaucratic inefficiency it is a move that signals a dramatic shift in federal labour relations.