WHEREAS:
For over 60 years the federal government has recognized federal workers’ right to collectively bargain because it is in the public interest. Federal employees have joined AFSCME in large numbers, forming strong unions and negotiating improved working conditions; and
WHEREAS:
Federal employees have done so without regard to politics or the party in power, under the procedures established by the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute, which was passed in 1978 with overwhelming bipartisan support (365-8 in the House and 87-1 in the Senate). The statute reflects a commitment to a strong, merit-based professional civil service and the recognition that collective bargaining enhances agency performance and leads to greater and improved services for the public; and
WHEREAS:
This commitment was reinforced by the Protect America’s Workforce Act, passed by the House of Representatives in 2025 with bipartisan support, which if enacted would reverse the harmful actions taken by the Trump Administration against federal employees and their unions; and
WHEREAS:
AFSCME represents federal employees at essential executive branch agencies including the Federal Aviation Administration which keeps the national airspace safe and efficient; AmeriCorps and Peace Corps which fulfills our nation’s ideals of service and community; U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) which serves our farmers and provides critical nutrition assistance to Americans; the Department of Justice (DOJ); and Voice of America (VOA), a vital source of independent, fact-based journalism for more than 80 years; and
WHEREAS:
The Trump administration has engaged in unprecedented attacks on the union rights of federal government employees, terminating union contracts across the federal government by executive order and ending collective bargaining rights for additional agencies in direct retaliation against the unions who have challenged the administration’s actions, including AFSCME. This attack on federal workers and our union has included ordering federal agencies to terminate their employees without cause, relocating jobs thousands of miles away from their longtime sites, as with AFSCME USDA members, and otherwise making conditions intolerable in order to reduce the federal workforce; and
WHEREAS:
In March 2025, the Trump administration silenced VOA for the first time in its history, and placed more than 1,000 journalists and staff, including all members of AFSCME Local 1418, on administrative leave, cutting off news to over 360 million people who rely on VOA as a counter to authoritarian propaganda; and
WHEREAS:
The Trump administration’s actions to strip over 1 million federal workers of their union rights has correctly been described as “the biggest act of union-busting in U.S. history.” And history shows that when the government engages in union busting, employers everywhere take notice and follow suit, such as the breaking of the Professional Air Traffic Controller Organization’s strike in 1981 and the passage of Wisconsin Act 10 in 2011; and
WHEREAS:
The Trump administration’s attempt to eliminate federal employee collective bargaining was foreshadowed by Project 2025, which called for banning federal employee unions. But, in fact, like his assaults on the judiciary, the president’s attack on federal collective bargaining is a central component of his efforts to destabilize civil society and democratic institutions, and eliminate guardrails against his seizure of unprecedented executive authority; and
WHEREAS:
In robbing federal employees of their collective bargaining rights, the Trump administration is siding with billionaires, rigging the system in favor of the wealthy at the expense of working families, and deteriorating the public services that the people of the United States depend on; and
WHEREAS:
The federal government should serve as a model employer for other public and private employers across the country by treating its employees fairly and respecting their legal rights. It should be the policy of the United States to protect, empower and rebuild the career federal workforce. It should also be the policy of the United States to protect union organizing and collective bargaining; and
WHEREAS:
AFSCME is actively fighting to restore and protect collective bargaining rights for federal employees, particularly by fighting back in the courts, filing over 25 federal complaints against the current administration to protect the rights of AFSCME members, and by having secured multiple court victories to block the termination of bargaining rights for federal employees who are AFSCME members, the terminations of our members, the dismantling of those federal agencies and others that fund AFSCME members’ work for other employees, including at VOA, and the freezing of federal funding necessary to our members’ jobs and communities.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:
AFSCME stands in solidarity with all federal employees; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
AFSCME strongly opposes the attacks on federal employee collective bargaining and calls on Congress to pass legislation like the Protect America’s Workforce Act, which aims to reverse executive orders that stripped union rights from over 1 million federal workers; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
AFSCME opposes the forced relocations of federal jobs such as at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as part of an effort to degrade working conditions and drive employees to quit; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That AFSCME calls for the full restoration of Voice of America, including the reinstatement of all employees and contractors fired since 2025, the resumption of full global broadcasting operations and the rebuilding of its newsroom capacity; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That AFSCME will continue to defend our members’ rights and interests through aggressive advocacy in legislative bodies and in the courts; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:
That AFSCME will support causes and initiatives that acknowledge the importance of and seek to strengthen the federal civil service.
SUBMITTED BY:
International Executive Board