Federal workers protest President Trump's executive orders curbing civil service protections in Washington prior to a federal court hearing that will consider the scope of the administration's authority.

Federal workers protest President Trump's executive orders curbing civil service protections in Washington prior to a federal court hearing that will consider the scope of the administration's authority. Eric Katz/GovExec

Claiming Trump Has ‘Declared War,’ Feds Rally to Fight Back Against Executive Orders

The protest preceded the first hearing in a consolidated lawsuit brought by more than a dozen labor groups representing federal employees

Hundreds of government employees gathered outside a courthouse in downtown Washington on Wednesday to protest President Trump's executive orders that changed the rules governing the federal workforce, calling the measures an assault on the civil service and a threat to democracy.

Workers, union representatives and lawmakers rallied behind the cry of Red for Feds, with protesters draped in the color to show their collective support. A federal judge on Wednesday was set to hold the first hearing in a consolidated lawsuit brought by more than a dozen labor groups representing federal employees, challenging the constitutionality of three executive orders Trump signed in May. The orders seek to streamline the firing process, exempt adverse personnel actions from grievance procedures, speed up collective bargaining negotiations and severely limit union employees’ ability to conduct representational activities while on the clock in their federal jobs.

Speakers at the rally said the pending fight against the Trump administration was an existential one for the federal civil service and their unions, but expressed optimism their side would prevail.

“Right there in that courthouse it will be decided if we will be going on,” American Federation of Government Employees president J. David Cox said at the rally, held in the shadow of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, where Wednesday’s hearing was being held. “I don’t know about you, but I plan on kicking ass and taking names.”

Employees from agencies across government gathered at the event, holding signs that read “EO hell NO” and “These executive orders are illegal!” The crowd chanted “red for feds,” “we fight for workers rights,” “vote them out” and even “lock them up.” An array of Democratic lawmakers spoke at the rally, including leadership in both the House and Senate.

“The hard right has tried to make you the scapegoat,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said. “They have tried to say you don’t work hard enough . . . they have tried to say you get paid too much.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said Trump has not followed through on key promises he made in the run up to his election.

“During his campaign for president, Trump told the American people that he would be a champion of working families,” Sanders said. “He lied. You are not a champion of working families when you sign anti-labor executive orders that make it easier to fire union workers and take away their constitutional rights to bargain collectively.”

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., said Republicans were using a “two-fisted approach” to attack the federal workforce through both legislation and executive actions.

Trump administration officials, she said, “have declared war on their own workforce.”

Lawmakers and the protesters made clear they would fight back, through lawsuits, union organization and mobilizing voters in the upcoming midterm elections.

“We have never seen the kind of assault on the federal employees that we have seen in the last two years,” said Gerry Connolly, D-Md.. “We’re here today not to say, ‘Pretty please, don’t hurt us.’ We’re here to say we have rights as federal employees and they’re going to be respected.”  

The unions already scored an initial victory this week, with the Federal Labor Relations Authority finding an unfair labor practice challenge by AFGE against the Education Department held merit. The department in March unilaterally imposed a new contract on AFGE that cut official time, reduced telework and unwound a series of rights granted to employees that had existed in previous agreements. Education officials said they decided to move forward after AFGE spent more than a year “dragging its feet” on “ground rules negotiations.”

An FLRA representative this week told AFGE and Education that there is “sufficient evidence” to charge the department with violating its statutory requirement to bargain in good faith. Any FLRA ruling will likely come without teeth, as the agency can only issue a judgment that carries weight if the case has been vetted and brought forward by its general counsel, a position for which Trump has not nominated a candidate. While the findings are only preliminary, and Education’s alleged violations occurred prior to Trump’s orders, AFGE said they served as a warning shot to federal agencies across government against implementing the executive actions.

Such implementation has already begun, as the Office of Personnel Management earlier this month issued guidance on how to implement many of the provisions of the executive orders. Several agencies already have taken action to restrict employees’ ability to use official time, frequently circumventing the renegotiation process suggested in the orders. Unions representing employees at the Social Security Administration, the Veterans Affairs Department, Housing and Urban Development, and the Bureau of Prisons have all reported management actions to unilaterally restrict the use of official time or to evict unions from agency office space.

According to documents already filed in court, the Trump administration was expected to argue on Wednesday that the district court lacks jurisdiction for hearing the challenges and that unions were premature in filing them. In its own filing, AFGE noted the enforcement actions already taking place and said the government’s position amounted to “not even the barest rebuttal to AFGE’s argument, or the facts supporting it.”

The lawsuits were brought by AFGE; the National Treasury Employees Union; and the Federal Workers Alliance, a coalition of 13 smaller unions.

If the unions are not successful in court, the Democrats speaking at their rally already have a plan B in mind.

“We must roll all of that back,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said of the executive orders, “and we will when we win in November.”

Erich Wagner contributed to this report.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.