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.
| 
No comments:
Post a Comment