Trump orders federal workers back to office or threatens layoffs
In one of his first actions as president of the United States, Donald Trump issued an executive order ending remote work for all federal employees, a measure aimed at reducing the federal workforce through attrition. The White House directed all US government departments and agencies in the executive branch to end remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work full time. Department heads may exempt some workers from this requirement, but in very specific cases. The executive order was one of multiple directives aimed at the 2.3 million-person federal workforce that, along with the return-to-the-office mandate, includes a hiring freeze, revamped hiring rules and other measures to make it more easy to fire high-level career employees. The White House said the measures were necessary to limit what Trump and his supporters consider a “deep state” that fought against his actions during the president’s first term. “There have been numerous well-documented cases of career federal officials resisting and undermining the policies and directives of their executive leadership.”states one of the executive orders signed by the president on Monday night “Therefore, the principles of good administration require that measures be taken to restore accountability to career officials,” he continues. According to the Office of Management and Budget, about 1.1 million federal civilian employees, that is, 46% of the civilian workforce, were eligible for some form of teleworking. Of those, approximately 228,000 workers, or 10% of the total workforce, had fully remote positions with no obligation to go to an office. Union reaction The return-to-office directive is expected to face a fight from federal unions, some of which have remote work written into their contracts. A union representing government workers criticized the mandate as representing a return to the patronage system thatthat oversaw the federal workforce until the end of the 19th century. “Every American has a stake in ensuring that federal employees remain free to carry out the mission of the agencies that employ them without fear of political interference,” Everett Kelly, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said in a statement. (AFGE), which represents 800,000 workers in the federal government and the government of the District of Columbia. Kelly, whose union represents employees of the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Social Security Administration, among other agencies, also called Trump’s directives “a blatant attempt to corrupt the government.” federal law by eliminating employees’ due process rights so they can be fired for political reasons.” The National Treasury Employees Union filed a lawsuit against the president’s “Schedule F” executive order, a directive that makes it easier for the Trump administration to fire career government employees. Trump’s order is “contrary to the intent of Congress,” according to the complaint filed Monday night in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Keep reading: • Vivek Ramaswamy gives up his mission to try to save the government millions of dollars• Trump sets a date for charging 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada• Trump’s insistence on increasing defense spending to 5% worries NATO
