The memo tells agency heads not to grant final approval to contracts reached less than 30 days before the change in administration. Image: Chip Somodevilla/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffPresident Trump has issued a memo taking aim against labor-management contracts negotiated during the Biden administration that in its words “improperly attempt to constrain the new president,” although the impact is uncertain.
The memo tells agency heads not to grant final approval to contracts reached less than 30 days before the change in administration, citing contracts with the AFGE union by the SSA and Education Department. They commit those agencies to certain levels of offsite work—including fully “remote work” in some cases—for employees in certain positions into 2029 and 2030, respectively.
However, both had been finalized by their agency heads before the close of the Biden administration—in the case of the SSA contract, which was an extension, two months before. There is no current accounting of new contracts or extensions from that time still pending final approval by an agency head.
Said the AFGE union, “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. AFGE members will not be intimidated. If our contracts are violated, we will aggressively defend them.”
The memo further bars entering into new contracts, or extending existing ones, within 30 days of a change in administrations moving forward, although with an exception for those “that primarily cover law enforcement officers.”
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee recently held a hearing focusing on the SSA contract extension, with the theme from Republicans that it was a move to thwart policies of the incoming Trump administration’s intentions to generally prohibit offsite work. GOP leaders of the panel have followed that with a letter to the AFGE striking the same tone and asking for information on all contracts it entered with agencies after 2023.
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