February 6, 2025

The slash-and-burn approach to the federal workforce underway by Donald Trump and Elon Musk has just met a firewall, in the form of several major unions that represent tens of thousands of federal workers.

The AFL-CIO, the AFT, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSME) are coordinating their responses to the Trump-Musk threats against their members with lawsuits, facts and rapid responses.

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler lobbed a strong rebuttal to the Trump executive order that would cancel or modify collective bargaining agreements with tens of thousands of federal workers, in what critics have likened to the same leave-or-else blitz that Musk employed when he acquired the social media platform now known as X.

“Rejecting federal workers’ collective bargaining agreements is union busting, plain and simple,” Shuler said in a statement issued just before the Feb. 6 deadline set by the unelected Musk for federal workers to resign or face possible layoffs.

AFGE and AFSME have already sued the Trump administration for its efforts to politicize the civil service through illegal executive orders. The AFT, AFGE and government watchdog groups filed a Jan. 20 lawsuit against the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, claiming it violates the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

“DOGE must be ordered to come out of the shadows and comply with the law before the sweeping, self-serving plans of billionaires upend the federal government and cause irreparable damage in the lives of working people," said AFT President Randi Weingarten.

Run-amok Musk has no authority

Musk, acting at the behest of Trump but without congressional authority or approval, has told the workers that they will receive pay and benefits through September. Their unions are warning them that they may never see a cent of that promised pay, because Trump does not have the authority to dismantle collective bargaining agreements between federal agencies and unions.

“Now more than ever, federal workers need strong collective bargaining agreements so they are protected and can continue to do the essential work we all depend on: delivering Social Security and disability checks, caring for our veterans, or keeping our food and transportation safe,” Shuler said. “These attempts to break our contracts will not silence our voices.”

AFGE National President Everett Kelley said the resignation-offer-turned-layoff-threat is nothing more than an attempt “to frighten and confuse career federal employees.”

“Federal employees should know that approved union contracts are enforceable by law, and the president does not have the authority to make unilateral changes to those agreements,” Kelley said. “AFGE members will not be intimidated. If our contracts are violated, we will aggressively defend them.”

For more information about the unions’ vigorous defense of their members, go HERE and HERE.