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#afge

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"The largest union for federal employees is planning to lay off more than half of its staff nationwide after President Donald Trump’s executive actions have rapidly weakened the organization’s finances, the union said Thursday.

"The American Federation of Government Employees will move ahead with a reduction in force that could cut its 355 employees to approximately 150, eliminating organizers, national representatives, support staff and others.

"The layoffs will weaken a leading opponent to Trump’s dramatic reshaping of the federal government."
apnews.com/article/afge-federa

Continued thread

As I've mentioned a few times, the Trump regime is undoubtedly aware that there will be opposition inside the US federal workforce to its plans to repurpose the machinery of state to accomplish objectively fascist objectives. Which is of course why they're also working to give Der Leader the power to purge anyone who won't enact their heinous ideology in government, and presumably replace them with Heritage Foundation-trained obedient little nazis; as was leaked during Trump's 2024 election campaign.

As this Common Dreams article notes, this plan was originally called Schedule F when Trump tried to enact it near the end of his first term, but the fascists haven't abandoned the project because it's a vital step in enacting their reactionary, Christian Nationalist agenda. Now Trump is attempting to progress this ideological purge and restacking scheme forward under a new title, "Schedule Policy/Career," to ensure nobody with a conscience inside the government sticks around long enough to object to their fascist activities.

Trump Advances Plan to Fill Federal Government With 'Political Cronies'

commondreams.org/news/trumps-s

"Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), said Friday's announcement was the latest "in a series of deliberate moves by this administration to corrupt the federal government and replace qualified public servants with political cronies."

"President Trump's action to politicize the work of tens of thousands of career federal employees will erode the government's merit-based hiring system and undermine the professional civil service that Americans rely on," said Kelley. "Politicizing the career civil service is a threat to our democracy and to the integrity of all the programs and services Americans rely on."

On some level, what the regime is attempting to do here amounts to a "jobs for cracker Republicans, and nobody else" program. But none of the stories about Trump politicizing the American government can be properly contextualized in a vacuum. The fact is that this is a fascist regime, attempting to force the entire US government to enforce a fascist "unreality" on society that would justify and enable their Christian Nationalist plans and intentions. Every single horrible thing Trump wants to do, every single idea the nazis want to turn in its head to harm rather than help people, becomes easier if the regime can purge opposition from the government and stack thousands of civil service positions with folks who ideologically support all this fascist bullshit.

Archived: archive.ph/swEG3

Common Dreams · Trump Advances Plan to Fill Federal Government With 'Political Cronies' | Common DreamsThe largest federal labor union warns of mass firings of career civil servants under a new rule proposed by Trump. Will the politicization of federal jobs jeopardize our democracy and essential services? Stand up to protect our merit-based federal workforce before it's too late.

This move by TSA certainly should reassure anyone that has a contract with the feds about whether the Trump regime will honor it.

' The department’s move could add uncertainty within a labor force that secures the nation’s transportation system. “Nobody wants to work in a place where you have no rights or workplace protections,” said [AFGE union official Johnny] Jones, a 22-year TSA employee. '

#DHS #HomelandSecurity #TSA #LaborUnions #UnionContract #AFGE

wsj.com/business/homeland-secu

#unions #AFGE

"In response to Elon Musk’s tweet requiring federal employees to justify their jobs or resign, American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) National President Everett Kelley issued the following statement:

'Once again, Elon Musk and the Trump Administration have shown their utter disdain for federal employees and the critical services they provide to the American people.

'It is cruel and disrespectful to hundreds of thousands of veterans who are wearing their second uniform in the civil service to be forced to justify their job duties to this out-of-touch, privileged, unelected billionaire who has never performed one single hour of honest public service in his life.

'AFGE will challenge any unlawful terminations of our members and federal employees across the country.'"

afge.org/publication/afge-pres

Continued thread

In response to #Musk’s demand, the #AFGE, the largest federal employee #union, said it would challenge any “unlawful” terminations. The union told workers that it “strongly believes” #OPM did not have the authority to direct employees in this way & advised them to seek guidance from a supervisor.

“Once again, #ElonMusk & the #Trump admin have shown their utter disdain for federal employees & the critical services they provide to the American people,” Everett Kelley, the union’s president, said…

In the face of recent executive actions attempting to undermine federal #union contracts, #AFGE National President Everett Kelley stands firm: 'Approved union contracts are enforceable by law, and the president does not have the authority to make unilateral changes to those agreements.' Let's unite to protect the rights of federal employees. #UnionStrong #FederalEmployees #WorkersRights

buff.ly/42K2LwB
Myths and Facts about federal employee telework. buff.ly/3PZxqOy

Project 2025, the sweeping right-wing blueprint for a new kind of U.S. presidency,
would ♦️sabotage science-based policies♦️ that address
climate change,
the environment,
abortion,
health care access,
technology and
education.

It would impose #religious and #conservative #ideology on the federal civil service
to such an extent that Republican presidential candidate Donald #Trump has, dubiously,
tried to distance himself from the plan.

But in 2022 Trump said the Heritage Foundation
—the think tank that authored Project 2025
—would “lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do.”

The project’s main document, a lengthy policy agenda, was published the following year.
Although Trump is not among its 34 authors, more than half are appointees and staff from his time as president;
the words “Trump” and “Trump Administration” appear 300 times in its pages.

At least 140 former Trump officials are involved in Project 2025, according to a CNN tally.
It’s reasonable to expect that a second Trump presidency would follow many of the project’s recommendations.

Project 2025 presents a long-standing conservative vision of a #smaller #government
and describes specific, detailed steps to achieve this goal.
It would shrink some federal departments and agencies while #eliminating others

#dividing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention into two weaker entities, for instance,
and #abolishing the Department of Education (ED) entirely.

What is even more unusual, and also mapped out in detail, is a plan to exert more #presidential #control over traditionally nonpartisan governmental workers
—those Trump might describe as members of the “deep state,”
or regulatory bureaucracy.

For example, Project 2025 claims that the the "National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration"
and other scientific institutions are
“vulnerable to obstructionism”
unless appointees at these agencies are
“wholly in sync” with presidential policy.

To that end, it would #reclassify tens of thousands of civil service jobs as political positions that answer to the president.

🔥“The independence of science is being attacked across the board in this document,” says Rachel Cleetus,
policy director of the Climate and Energy program at the nonpartisan Union of Concerned Scientists.

“The importance of this science is that’s how we can ensure people’s health and the environment are being safeguarded.”

(Cleetus notes that her comments address the policy agenda’s contents, not the upcoming presidential election.)

Career scientists who are now employed by the federal government are
💥 “terrified and polishing up their résumés,” says Jacqueline Simon, policy director of the "American Federation of Government Employees," or #AFGE,
a union that represents workers at the National Institutes of Health, the Environmental Protection Agency, the CDC and other agencies.

If Project 2025 becomes reality, she says,
❌“the very idea of scientific integrity will be flushed down the toilet.”

The Heritage Foundation did not respond to Scientific American’s request for comment.

scientificamerican.com/article

Scientific American · Project 2025 Plan for Trump Presidency Has Far-Reaching Threats to ScienceBy Ben Guarino

Maxine Joselow & Scott Dance: Why #scientists fear a second #tRump term, and what they are doing about it: Several federal agencies are working to safeguard research, including climate science, from future political meddling.

"When the union representing nearly half of Environmental Protection Agency employees approved a new contract with the federal government this month, it included an unusual provision that had nothing to do with pay, benefits or workplace flexibility: protections from political meddling into their work.

The protections, which ensure workers can report any meddling without fear of “retribution, reprisal, or retaliation,” are “a way for us to get in front of a second Trump administration and protect our workers,” said Marie Owens Powell, an EPA gas station storage tank inspector and president of American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Council 238."

#usepa #laborunion #AFGE
washingtonpost.com/climate-env

The Washington Post · Why scientists fear a second Trump term, and what they are doing about itBy Maxine Joselow
Continued thread

While helpful, the provision won’t be a panacea, said Tim Whitehouse, the exec dir of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility [ #PEER ], a nonprofit…, which helped advise #AFGE on the #ScientificIntegrity language.

“It will be impossible to fully #Trump-proof any agency or protect any #scientist if Trump wins a new term & either the #House or #Senate is in #Republican control,” Whitehouse said. “Then there will be absolutely no meaningful #oversight.”