How a union joined the Trump-proofing craze

Jun 03, 2024

QUICK FIX

As various cogs within the Biden administration take steps to shield his policies from a potential return by former President Donald Trump to the White House, government employees are also taking matters into their own hands by trying to ensure their non-political work isn’t targeted by a future Republican administration.

Last week, employees at the Environmental Protection Agency ratified a new contract that includes a provision to ensure that researchers are able to perform their jobs without compromising their “scientific integrity.”

“The union is pleased that we came out with something that would protect our people, especially our science and protect our diverse agency [and] protect inclusion at the agency,” Nicole Cantello, a legislative and political coordinator at the American Federation of Government Employees Council 238, told Shift.

The new deal will ensure that scientists at the EPA are able to make scientific assertions in their research, including on findings related to climate change or forever chemicals like PFAS, without political interference. During Trump’s presidency, he sidelined scientific studies and even replaced top researchers with climate-skeptic officials.

Although think tanks and universities have similar contracts with professors and researchers to protect the integrity of their work, the contract is consistent with a memorandum Biden signed days after taking office that directed agency heads to ensure federal employees could work without fear of political influence.

While Biden aims to cast himself as "the most pro-union president in American history" and shores up protections for science within agencies, government employees using collective bargaining to thwart a potential Trump administration is unprecedented and could act as a blueprint for other unions to follow suit.

AFGE’s new deal also comes after the Biden administration finalized a rule in April to cement protections for civil servants, as Trump has flirted with the idea of returning to his Schedule F policy that would allow him to easily fire or reclassify government workers.

The agreement would not be able to prevent a Republican-aligned EPA from enacting policy, but Cantello anticipates the agency could appeal to the Federal Labor Relations Authority if an arbitrator ruled in favor of the union.

“We believe that if a new Trump administration gets into power, that we would be using this article to protect our members, and that that litigation would continue on through the arbitration,” she said.

Cantello is unsure what would happen if the FLRA sides with the union — or whether that would prompt a future Trump administration to appeal in a lawsuit — but the contract could play a role in redefining the relationship agencies have with their employees as the former president seeks to politicize more parts of the federal workforce.

GOOD MORNING. It’s Monday, June 3. Welcome back to Morning Shift, your go-to tipsheet on labor and employment-related immigration. I guess you can’t claim to be the "most pro-union president in American history" if your reelection campaign isn’t unionized. Send feedback, tips and exclusives to nniedzwiadek@politico.com and lukenye@politico.com. Follow us on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @NickNiedz and @Lawrence_Ukenye.

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On the Hill

FARM BILL TAKES ON CHILD LABOR: Democrats are working to add a bipartisan bill co-sponsored by Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) to the Senate farm bill that would end federal contracts for companies that violate child labor laws, our colleagues in Morning Agriculture report today.

Negotiations are ongoing on how narrowly to craft the bill, but the proposal would apply to all federal contractors and could be whittled down to target the Agriculture Department.

Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) unsuccessfully put forth his own amendment during the House’s farm bill markup that would’ve prevented USDA from contracting with meatpacking plants that unlawfully employed child labor.

HEAR US OUT: The Skills First Coalition, led by IBM and other education providers, sent a letter to Senate HELP Committee leaders Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) last week to provide recommendations on how lawmakers should reauthorize the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.

The group called on Senate lawmakers to prioritize skills-based hiring, ensure employers can lead in administering training programs and to invest in initiatives supported by data.

House lawmakers passed a WIOA reauthorization bill on a 378-26 vote in April and strengthened accountability provisions for state and local workforce boards.

IN THE STATES

KICKING THE CAN: California health care workers who were supposed to start earning $25 per hour in June won’t see that wage start until July, our Rachel Bluth reports.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 828 late Friday afternoon, which postpones the landmark health care worker minimum wage passed last year under Senate Bill 525.

The delay buys more time before the wage goes into effect so that lawmakers, Newsom and organized labor can negotiate a deal on the new pay measure to accommodate the state's budget shortfall. Newsom vowed he wouldn’t sign a new budget without a way to delay or modify the wage in light of the state’s $27.5 billion deficit.

Unions

TAKING IT UP A NOTCH: Work stoppages will spread to University of California, Santa Barbara and UC San Diego on Monday and UC Irvine on Wednesday over frustration of their school’s handling of Gaza war protests, our Blake Jones reports.

United Auto Workers 4811 employees — undergraduate and graduate students as well as postdocs who grade papers, serve as teaching assistants and conduct research — had already walked off the job at UC Davis, UCLA and UC Santa Cruz.

The 10-campus system has tried to get the California Public Employment Relations Board to block the proliferating strikes — so far without success — arguing they're illegal and breach a no-strike clause in the union's contract. The 48,000-member union argues that by arresting student protesters and allowing some of them to face harm from counter-protesters, the university has committed an unfair labor practice.

NOW THAT’S A FIRST (SORTA): Campaign staffers at Biden’s Wilmington headquarters became the first presidential reelection campaign to unionize after finalizing a new contract that went into effect on May 23, CNN reports.

The deal includes expanded benefits for nearly 100 campaign workers and underscores Biden’s commitment to collective bargaining as he seeks to make his labor record a key part of his reelection pitch to voters.

Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign was the first to unionize.

More union news: "How working class voters are thinking about 2024," from our Madison Fernandez and Mia McCarthy.

IMMIGRATION

WAR OF WORDS: House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday that executive action by President Joe Biden on immigration would be “too little, too late,” our David Cohen reports.

Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” the Louisiana Republican said of Biden: “He’s trying to desperately show the American people somehow that he wants to address the issue that he himself created.”

Though border crossings have declined in recent months, Biden is expected to sign an executive order in the coming days designed to improve processes now in use on the southern border.

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AROUND THE AGENCIES

More agency news: "EEOC Commissioner Charge Hike Puts More Power in Members’ Hands," from Bloomberg Law.

WHAT WE'RE READING

— "Yes, Walmart Store Managers Really Can Make $500,000 a Year," from Bloomberg.
— "Landing a Job Is All About Who You Know (Again)," from The Wall Street Journal.
— "The college job market offers a warning sign to the US labor market," from CNN.

THAT’S YOUR SHIFT!

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