Government
Government Engineers’ Union Joins Suit Challenging Shutdown Mass Firings
A federal judge in San Francisco has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from issuing reduction in force notices to workers represented by unions in the case.
A union representing engineers is one of three additional labor groups that filed Oct. 21 to join a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s efforts to fire furloughed employees during the government shutdown, bringing the number of unions challenging the administration's efforts to eight. The firings have been temporarily blocked by a judge, but the head of the White House Office of Management and Budget has indicated more than 10,000 workers could be targeted.
Two unions, the American Federation of Government Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees initially filed the llawsuit Sept. 30—just before the start of the shutdown on Oct. 1—in U.S. district court in San Francisco in response to Trump administration plans to fire thousands of workers during a lapse in appropriations. The firings violate the Administrative Procedure Act, the unions argue, writing in the complaint, “the Trump administration has made unlawful threats to dismantle essential federal services and functions provided by federal personnel, deviating from historic practice and violating applicable laws, if a shutdown occurs.”
The Trump administration has argued that its agencies have discretion when deciding whether a "reduction in force" (RIF) is necessary.
Other unions moved to join the case this month, and now the National Treasury Employees Union, American Federation of Teachers and the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) have also asked the court to join the suit.
IFPTE represents engineers and other professional technical and administrative workers with both public and private employers. Its federal government members work at agencies including the U.S. Navy, NASA, the Dept. of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory, the Interior Dept., Government Accountability Office and Tennessee Valley Authority. Fourteen of its locals represent U.S. Army Corps of Engineers employees, though the Corps was not among the federal agencies added to the suit.
“This joint action reaffirms two truths: that organized labor is leading the fight against the administration’s unprecedented and unlawful attack on federal workers’ rights, and that the more vicious and outrageous their attacks become, the stronger we stand in solidarity,” IFPTE President Matt Biggs said in a statement. “Our opponents’ entire game plan is to divide, demoralize, and defeat us, but we will prevail by taking a stand in every venue available, including the courts.”
In past government shutdowns, employees have been temporarily furloughed. But ahead of the current shutdown, Russell Vought, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) directed agency heads to go further and carry out a “reduction in force” (RIF) for employees, programs, projects and other activities that face discretionary funding lapses and are “not consistent with the president’s priorities.”
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On Oct. 10, Vought tweeted that, “The RIFs have begun.” Estimates provided by OMB in court filings have varied, but Vought said on a podcast this month that layoffs will “probably end up being north of 10,000.”
District Court Judge Susan Illston, the federal judge overseeing the case, issued a temporary restraining order Oct. 15 blocking the Trump administration from issuing or carrying out any RIFs impacting members of the unions in the lawsuit, for now.
The administration has also sought to pause or terminate funding for projects through the Dept. of Transportation, Dept. of Energy and Army Corps of Engineers since the start of the shutdown.
Meanwhile, the government shutdown is continuing with little sign of either side willing to give up their position. The Senate has been so far unable to reach the 60-vote threshold to pass either Republicans’ stopgap spending bill to keep the government open, which did pass the House, or Democrats’ similar bill that would also extend health care subsidies that are due to expire at the end of the calendar year.
Lawmakers in both parties have placed blame across the aisle, but the shutdown has also taken on an unusual political bent as federal agencies have shared messages blaming Democrats, a possible violation of the Hatch Act, which places limits on political activities by federal employees. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said the firings would target “Democrat programs” and agencies. “And they’re never going to come back in many cases,” he said Oct. 14.
