On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed a series of anti-worker executive orders that threaten to hand over the fate of public service workers to billionaires and anti-union extremists.
AFSCME President Lee Saunders said workers deserve better.
“Donald Trump began his presidency by signing executive orders that undermine public service workers’ voice on the job and the very principles of civil service which have been established for more than a century to keep politics out of public service,” Saunders said. “Putting the job security of nonpartisan, dedicated public service workers in the hands of billionaires and anti-union extremists is unacceptable.”
Here are four ways the new executive orders will hurt public service workers — particularly federal employees:
Undermine the civil service, making it easier to install political cronies and billionaire lackeys
The administration recycled an order from 2020 making it easier to fire thousands of federal workers. Known as “Schedule F” at the time but never implemented four years ago, the order now creates a new classification for “policy/career” federal employees and revokes their civil service protections. If implemented, this would make it easier for the administration to install an unprecedented number of political cronies in the federal workforce, a practice that AFSCME got its start fighting against.
Target public services and public service workers through a new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)
Citing “efficiency,” the administration plans to bring in DOGE teams at each federal agency. These teams will be staffed by people with little accountability or knowledge of the agencies they’re tasked with slashing. One executive order even asks DOGE to propose workforce cuts within 90 days — a plan that would make it harder to deliver public services.
The new administration wants to slash as much as $2 trillion from the federal budget. Experts say that will require cutting Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
Tens of millions of Americans, including working and retired AFSCME members, rely on those vital life-saving programs for their health care, retirement and peace of mind.
Raising the cost of prescription drugs
The new administration has reversed an executive order that would have lowered prescription drug costs for millions of people. This means working families and retirees will pay more for drugs while pharmaceutical companies get even richer.
This could be a sign that more drug price reforms will soon be on the chopping block. On the first day of the new Congress, Rep. Andrew Ogles (R-Tenn.) introduced a bill to repeal the entire 2022 law that included critical cost-saving measures for Medicare prescription drugs like $35 insulin cap and the $2,000 annual out-of-pocket limit on seniors’ Part D costs.
Adding more private prisons
Reversing a private prison ban will be a windfall for the huge corporations that run private prisons. Yet, these prisons are more dangerous than publicly run facilities, which are staffed by public service workers who believe in protecting their communities.
What we can do
These attacks are only a taste of what’s to come. But we can begin to fight them by getting organized.
That means doing things like attending a union meeting or getting your co-workers to sign a
union card.
The bigger we are, the more power we have to say working people shouldn’t just get by — we demand to thrive. It’s the hard work of proud, dedicated workers in the public service — not the greed of billionaires and anti-union extremists — that will strengthen our communities. AFSCME will be mobilizing, organizing and working with our partners to protect workers’ rights and freedoms.