(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: 

  1. Alma S. Adams, Ph.D.
  2. Colin Allred
  3. Cindy Axne
  4. Karen Bass
  5. Nanette Diaz Barragán
  6. Joyce Beatty
  7. Ami Bera, M.D.
  8. Eddie Bernice Johnson
  9. Donald S. Beyer Jr.
  10. Sanford D. Bishop, Jr.
  11. Earl Blumenauer
  12. Lisa Blunt Rochester
  13. Suzanne Bonamici
  14. Brendan F. Boyle
  15. Anthony Brindisi
  16. Anthony G. Brown
  17. Julia Brownley
  18. Cheri Bustos
  19. G. K. Butterfield
  20. Salud Carbajal
  21. Tony Cárdenas
  22. André Carson
  23. Joaquin Castro
  24. Kathy Castor
  25. Judy Chu
  26. David N. Cicilline
  27. Gilbert R. Cisneros, Jr.
  28. Yvette D. Clarke
  29. Wm. Lacy Clay
  30. Emanuel Cleaver, II
  31. Steve Cohen
  32. Gerry Connolly
  33. Jim Cooper
  34. J. Luis Correa
  35. Jim Costa
  36. Joe Courtney
  37. TJ Cox
  38. Angie Craig
  39. Jason Crow
  40. Henry Cuellar
  41. Elijah Cummings
  42. Sharice L. Davids
  43. Danny K. Davis
  44. Susan A. Davis
  45. Madeleine Dean
  46. Peter A. DeFazio
  47. Diana DeGette
  48. Rosa L. DeLauro
  49. Suzan DelBene
  50. Antonio Delgado
  51. Val Butler Demings
  52. Mark DeSaulnier
  53. Debbie Dingell
  54. Lloyd Doggett
  55. Mike Doyle
  56. Eliot L. Engel
  57. Theodore E. Deutch
  58. Veronica Escobar
  59. Anna G. Eshoo
  60. Adriano Espaillat
  61. Dwight Evans
  62. Abby Finkenauer
  63. Lizzie Fletcher
  64. Bill Foster
  65. Lois Frankel
  66. Marcia L. Fudge
  67. Tulsi Gabbard
  68. Ruben Gallego
  69. John Garamendi
  70. Jesús G. “Chuy” García
  71. Sylvia R. Garcia
  72. Jared Golden
  73. Jimmy Gomez
  74. Vicente Gonzalez
  75. Josh Gottheimer
  76. Al Green
  77. Raul Grijalva
  78. Deb Haaland
  79. Josh Harder
  80. Alcee Hastings
  81. Jahana Hayes
  82. Denny Heck
  83. Brian Higgins
  84. Katie Hill
  85. Jim Himes
  86. Kendra S. Horn
  87. Steven Horsford
  88. Chrissy Houlahan
  89. Jared Huffman
  90. Pramila Jayapal
  91. Hakeem Jeffries
  92. Henry C. "Hank" Johnson, Jr.
  93. Marcy Kaptur
  94. William R. Keating
  95. Robin Kelly
  96. Joseph P. Kennedy, III
  97. Ro Khanna
  98. Daniel T. Kildee
  99. Andy Kim
  100. Ron Kind
  101. Ann Kirkpatrick
  102. Raja Krishnamoorthi
  103. Ann McLane Kuster
  104. Conor Lamb
  105. James R. Langevin
  106. Rick Larsen
  107. John B. Larson
  108. Brenda L. Lawrence
  109. Al Lawson
  110. Barbara Lee
  111. Sheila Jackson Lee
  112. Susie Lee
  113. Andy Levin
  114. Mike Levin
  115. John Lewis
  116. Ted W. Lieu
  117. Daniel W. Lipinski
  118. Dave Loebsack
  119. Zoe Lofgren
  120. Alan Lowenthal
  121. Ben Ray Luján
  122. Elaine G. Luria
  123. Stephen F. Lynch
  124. Tom Malinowski
  125. Carolyn B. Maloney
  126. Sean Patrick Maloney
  127. Doris O. Matsui
  128. Lucy McBath
  129. Betty McCollum
  130. Donald McEachin
  131. James P. McGovern
  132. Jerry McNerney
  133. Gregory W. Meeks
  134. Grace Meng
  135. Gwen Moore
  136. Joesph D. Morelle
  137. Seth Moulton
  138. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell
  139. Stephanie Murphy
  140. Jerrold Nadler
  141. Grace F. Napolitano
  142. Richard E. Neal
  143. Joe Neguse
  144. Donald Norcross
  145. Eleanor Holmes Norton
  146. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
  147. Ilhan Omar
  148. Tom O'Halleran
  149. Chris Pappas
  150. Frank Pallone, Jr.
  151. Jimmy Panetta
  152. Bill Pascrell, Jr.
  153. Donald M. Payne, Jr.
  154. Ed Perlmutter
  155. Scott H. Peters
  156. Collin C. Peterson
  157. Dean Phillips
  158. Chellie Pingree
  159. Mark Pocan
  160. Katie Porter
  161. Ayanna Pressley
  162. David E. Price
  163. Kathleen M. Rice
  164. Cedric L. Richmond
  165. Max Rose
  166. Harley Rouda
  167. Lucille Roybal-Allard
  168. Raul Ruiz, M.D.
  169. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger
  170. Bobby L. Rush
  171. Tim Ryan
  172. John P. Sarbanes
  173. Linda T. Sanchez
  174. Mary Gay Scanlon
  175. Jan Schakowsky
  176. Adam B. Schiff
  177. Bradley S. Schneider
  178. Kurt Schrader
  179. Kim Schrier, M.D.
  180. Bobby Scott
  181. David Scott
  182. Terri A. Sewell
  183. Donna E. Shalala
  184. Brad Sherman
  185. Mikie Sherrill
  186. Albio Sires
  187. Elissa Slotkin
  188. Adam Smith
  189. Darren Soto
  190. Abigail D. Spanberger
  191. Jackie Speier
  192. Haley M. Stevens
  193. Thomas R. Suozzi
  194. Eric Swalwell
  195. Mark Takano
  196. Dina Titus
  197. Bennie Thompson
  198. Mike Thompson
  199. Rashida Tlaib
  200. Paul D. Tonko
  201. Xochitl Torres Small
  202. Lori Trahan
  203. David Trone
  204. Lauren Underwood
  205. Jeff Van Drew
  206. Juan Vargas
  207. Marc Veasey
  208. Filemon Vela
  209. Nydia M. Velazquez
  210. Debbie Wasserman Schultz
  211. Maxine Waters
  212. Bonnie Watson Coleman
  213. Peter Welch
  214. Jennifer Wexton
  215. Susan Wild
  216. Frederica S. Wilson
  217. John Yarmuth

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