Trump Impact: Federal workers could lose job protections under incoming Trump administration. Here’s why

Ian Crawford | icrawford@wtop.com
November 9, 2024, 3:47 PM

This story is part of WTOP’s ongoing series, Trump Impact, which looks at how the new administration could change the D.C. region.

Many federal workers are viewing President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House with caution. The unions that represent federal workers are concerned over how contract negotiations with federal agencies could proceed during a second Trump administration.

“Many federal unions saw policies that limited their abilities for collective bargaining, limited their ability to negotiate, ability to use ‘official time’ — that’s time spent working on union activities during work hours,” said Drew Friedman, who covers federal workforce issues for Federal News Network. … Friedman added that during his first term in office, Trump signed a number of executive orders, which limited the ability of unions, “to negotiate some of the articles of those contracts.”

The biggest concern for many federal workers is Schedule F — an executive order signed by Trump just before the 2020 election. When President Joe Biden took office in January, he revoked the order. … That order would allow agencies within the federal government to reclassify workers, removing many job protections that federal workers have had for a long time.

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Ian Crawford
Ian Crawford is a proud graduate of the University of Oregon, former AmeriCorps volunteer with a veterans’ service non-profit organization and, since joining WTOP, has been a news anchor, traffic reporter, business reporter and a producer
icrawford@wtop.com
@IanCrawfordWTOP