AFSCME members are fighting the administration’s newest attempt to replace nonpartisan career public service workers with partisan cronies.
AFSCME and its allies filed a lawsuit Tuesday to block the administration’s Feb. 6 “fork directive” deadline for federal workers to accept an offer to resign.
In a press release, AFSCME said the lawsuit requires the administration to spell out a policy “that is lawful, rather than an arbitrary, unlawful, short-fused ultimatum which workers may not be able to enforce.”
Joining our union are the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), AFGE Local 3707, and the National Association of Government Employees (NAGE), represented by Democracy Forward, a legal organization.
“We are filing this lawsuit to stop the purge of qualified professionals from the federal government workforce. Not only are these actions illegal and a scam, but they are eroding the health and well-being of our communities,” said AFSCME President Lee Saunders.
“These workers do everything from making sure families receive their Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security benefits on time to protecting our drinking water and the food we eat to overseeing our national security. If this chaos goes unchecked, it will have devastating impacts on working people,” Saunders added.
The “fork directive” is yet another attempt by the administration to implement Project 2025’s plan to install partisan loyalists after getting rid of nonpartisan career public service workers. This illegal directive gives an ultimatum to a sweeping number of federal employees — resign now or face the possibility of job loss without compensation down the road.
At the same time, workers are being offered an unlawful severance package. For example, it’s unclear how the government can promise to pay workers for a deferred resignation when Congress hasn’t appropriated the funds to do so.
This is the second time AFSCME and AFGE have gone to court to stop the administration. The first lawsuit, filed last week, took aim at the illegal effort to roll back the so-called Schedule F regulation — which protects the rights of federal workers — so it’s easier to fire them.
To read the “fork directive” lawsuit, visit: https://www.afscme.org/AFGE-AFLCIO-Fork-2.4.25.pdf