The GOP war on the Federal workforce will hurt black workers the most. [View all]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-gop-war-with-the-federal-workforce-will-hurt-black-workers-the-most_us_586ebd91e4b043ad97e29974

WASHINGTON ― President-elect Donald Trump and the new GOP Congress are gearing up for battle with federal employees and their unions. With control of both the legislative and executive branches, Republicans want to institute a hiring freeze in the federal government, bring a halt to standardized raises, and make it easier to get rid of underperformers ― all with the stated purpose of eliminating waste and bureaucracy.

When it comes to sticking it to the federal workforce, GOP lawmakers are leaving no tools in the shed. As the Washington Post reported Thursday, members of Congress even want to breathe new life into an ancient procedural rule that would allow them to target individual federal workers for salary cuts ― down to as little as $1 a year. Trump adviser New Gingrich has urged the president-elect to wage a “straight-out war” with the civil service.

If Trump and his fellow Republicans achieve all these austerity goals, there’s one group that will pay a higher price for it than others: black workers.

That’s because the federal government disproportionately employs African-Americans. In fiscal year 2014, 18.1 percent of federal employees ― or nearly one in every five ― were black, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. That’s a significantly higher rate than in the civilian workforce at large, where 10.4 percent of workers were black during the same period.