MTD affiliates joined with other unions in supporting the decision reached by U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on August 24 overturning several executive orders issued by the White House in May that hampered representation efforts for federal workers.
MTD Executive Board Member and American Federation of Government Employees President J. David Cox stated, “We are heartened by the judge’s ruling and the huge outpouring of support shown to federal workers by lawmakers from both parties, fellow union workers, and compassionate citizens across the country. Our members go to work every single day to serve the American people, and they deserve all the rights and protections afforded to them by our Founding Fathers.”
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (an MTD affiliate) President Lee Saunders called the ruling “an important victory for federal workers – for their collective bargaining rights, for their ability to have a powerful voice on the job and provide important services to the American people. It turns back a ruthless attack by the administration on the integrity of the career civil service – and therefore on democracy itself.”
From another MTD affiliate, the International Association of Machinists, President Robert Martinez added, “We applaud the judge’s decision to rightfully strike down this unconstitutional attack on our federal workforce. The working men and women who support our military, preserve our national parks and take care of our veterans have been vindicated today.”
In late May, President Trump issued three executive orders that restricted on federal employees the use of official time (which allows union stewards to represent workers while on the job), limited what could be included during collective bargaining, and cut back efforts to protect workers who were being disciplined and/or dismissed.
In her 122-page decision in which she ordered the administration to immediately stop implementation of the executive orders, Judge Jackson wrote, “The collective bargaining process is not a cutthroat death match.”
Many MTD affiliates have stood with federal workers at various events across the country, including a “Red for Feds” rally in Washington on July 25 that drew Congressional speakers and more than 1000 supporters in red shirts on a rainy afternoon.