(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-MD) led 217 Members in urging House leaders to protect federal workers’ collective bargaining rights as they finalize appropriations legislation for Fiscal Year 2020. The Members want to retain Section 749 of the House-passed Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act (H.R. 3351), which would ensure that agencies engage in good faith negotiations with employee unions and prevent agencies from unilaterally imposing contracts that undermine workers’ rights.
The Trump administration has launched a coordinated effort to dismantle federal unions and undermine collective bargaining rights, proposing extreme changes to labor contracts under negotiation with each of the unions representing federal employees. The administration has sought to effectuate these extreme terms by bargaining in bad faith and then having the resulting disputes resolved by the Federal Services Impasse Panel, which is now entirely stacked with Trump-appointed members who are actively hostile to labor unions and workers’ rights.
“This is the first time in four decades that federal unions have had to come to Congress to ask for protection of the institution of fair collective bargaining, including their ability to collect union dues and obtain adequate amounts of official time to carry out legally-required representational duties,” the Members explained. “Without this provision, the Trump administration will likely succeed in crushing the federal employee unions, making a mockery of the collective bargaining guarantee and rendering the task of effectively representing union members all but impossible.”
The Members continued, “As the nation’s largest unionized employer, the federal government sets many key standards for labor-management relations. We who affirm the right of American workers to form, join, and operate independent labor unions must stand up for our federal employee unions in this precarious moment. They have sought our assistance as a last resort, but they need our help and they are unlikely to survive the Trump administration’s assault on their rights without our action.”
The letter is supported by the AFL-CIO, AFGE, National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), AFSCME, National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers (IFPTE), International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers (IAM), American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), National Education Association (NEA), and Federal Education Association (FEA).
A signed copy of the letter is available here.
The letter was signed by the following Representatives:
- Alma S. Adams, Ph.D.
- Colin Allred
- Cindy Axne
- Karen Bass
- Nanette Diaz Barragán
- Joyce Beatty
- Ami Bera, M.D.
- Eddie Bernice Johnson
- Donald S. Beyer Jr.
- Sanford D. Bishop, Jr.
- Earl Blumenauer
- Lisa Blunt Rochester
- Suzanne Bonamici
- Brendan F. Boyle
- Anthony Brindisi
- Anthony G. Brown
- Julia Brownley
- Cheri Bustos
- G. K. Butterfield
- Salud Carbajal
- Tony Cárdenas
- André Carson
- Joaquin Castro
- Kathy Castor
- Judy Chu
- David N. Cicilline
- Gilbert R. Cisneros, Jr.
- Yvette D. Clarke
- Wm. Lacy Clay
- Emanuel Cleaver, II
- Steve Cohen
- Gerry Connolly
- Jim Cooper
- J. Luis Correa
- Jim Costa
- Joe Courtney
- TJ Cox
- Angie Craig
- Jason Crow
- Henry Cuellar
- Elijah Cummings
- Sharice L. Davids
- Danny K. Davis
- Susan A. Davis
- Madeleine Dean
- Peter A. DeFazio
- Diana DeGette
- Rosa L. DeLauro
- Suzan DelBene
- Antonio Delgado
- Val Butler Demings
- Mark DeSaulnier
- Debbie Dingell
- Lloyd Doggett
- Mike Doyle
- Eliot L. Engel
- Theodore E. Deutch
- Veronica Escobar
- Anna G. Eshoo
- Adriano Espaillat
- Dwight Evans
- Abby Finkenauer
- Lizzie Fletcher
- Bill Foster
- Lois Frankel
- Marcia L. Fudge
- Tulsi Gabbard
- Ruben Gallego
- John Garamendi
- Jesús G. “Chuy” García
- Sylvia R. Garcia
- Jared Golden
- Jimmy Gomez
- Vicente Gonzalez
- Josh Gottheimer
- Al Green
- Raul Grijalva
- Deb Haaland
- Josh Harder
- Alcee Hastings
- Jahana Hayes
- Denny Heck
- Brian Higgins
- Katie Hill
- Jim Himes
- Kendra S. Horn
- Steven Horsford
- Chrissy Houlahan
- Jared Huffman
- Pramila Jayapal
- Hakeem Jeffries
- Henry C. "Hank" Johnson, Jr.
- Marcy Kaptur
- William R. Keating
- Robin Kelly
- Joseph P. Kennedy, III
- Ro Khanna
- Daniel T. Kildee
- Andy Kim
- Ron Kind
- Ann Kirkpatrick
- Raja Krishnamoorthi
- Ann McLane Kuster
- Conor Lamb
- James R. Langevin
- Rick Larsen
- John B. Larson
- Brenda L. Lawrence
- Al Lawson
- Barbara Lee
- Sheila Jackson Lee
- Susie Lee
- Andy Levin
- Mike Levin
- John Lewis
- Ted W. Lieu
- Daniel W. Lipinski
- Dave Loebsack
- Zoe Lofgren
- Alan Lowenthal
- Ben Ray Luján
- Elaine G. Luria
- Stephen F. Lynch
- Tom Malinowski
- Carolyn B. Maloney
- Sean Patrick Maloney
- Doris O. Matsui
- Lucy McBath
- Betty McCollum
- Donald McEachin
- James P. McGovern
- Jerry McNerney
- Gregory W. Meeks
- Grace Meng
- Gwen Moore
- Joesph D. Morelle
- Seth Moulton
- Debbie Mucarsel-Powell
- Stephanie Murphy
- Jerrold Nadler
- Grace F. Napolitano
- Richard E. Neal
- Joe Neguse
- Donald Norcross
- Eleanor Holmes Norton
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
- Ilhan Omar
- Tom O'Halleran
- Chris Pappas
- Frank Pallone, Jr.
- Jimmy Panetta
- Bill Pascrell, Jr.
- Donald M. Payne, Jr.
- Ed Perlmutter
- Scott H. Peters
- Collin C. Peterson
- Dean Phillips
- Chellie Pingree
- Mark Pocan
- Katie Porter
- Ayanna Pressley
- David E. Price
- Kathleen M. Rice
- Cedric L. Richmond
- Max Rose
- Harley Rouda
- Lucille Roybal-Allard
- Raul Ruiz, M.D.
- C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger
- Bobby L. Rush
- Tim Ryan
- John P. Sarbanes
- Linda T. Sanchez
- Mary Gay Scanlon
- Jan Schakowsky
- Adam B. Schiff
- Bradley S. Schneider
- Kurt Schrader
- Kim Schrier, M.D.
- Bobby Scott
- David Scott
- Terri A. Sewell
- Donna E. Shalala
- Brad Sherman
- Mikie Sherrill
- Albio Sires
- Elissa Slotkin
- Adam Smith
- Darren Soto
- Abigail D. Spanberger
- Jackie Speier
- Haley M. Stevens
- Thomas R. Suozzi
- Eric Swalwell
- Mark Takano
- Dina Titus
- Bennie Thompson
- Mike Thompson
- Rashida Tlaib
- Paul D. Tonko
- Xochitl Torres Small
- Lori Trahan
- David Trone
- Lauren Underwood
- Jeff Van Drew
- Juan Vargas
- Marc Veasey
- Filemon Vela
- Nydia M. Velazquez
- Debbie Wasserman Schultz
- Maxine Waters
- Bonnie Watson Coleman
- Peter Welch
- Jennifer Wexton
- Susan Wild
- Frederica S. Wilson
- John Yarmuth
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