Unionized federal workers across New England are prepared to fight President Donald Trump’s order that will require them go into the office full time.
The executive memo directs department and agency leaders to “take all necessary steps to terminate remote work agreements.” It also states implementation of the directive should be “consistent with applicable law.” Some believe that language means current work agreements will be honored . Others are less optimistic, and want to ensure that flexibility remains.
“We’ve been dealing with this sort of threat for a couple of months now, but we are going to stand our ground,” said Lilly Simmons, president of local 3428 of the American Federation of Government Employees, a union that represents more than 500 EPA workers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. “We have a contract in place. There’s not a reopening clause to renegotiate for another two years.”
David Gonzalez, the national vice president of District 2 for the American Federation of Government Employees, agrees the order would violate existing contracts that allow telework. He said the union will explore legal recourse and appeal to the public.
“We’re not happy with his decision to go after federal workers,” Gonzalez said.
In announcing his plan to return federal workers to the office , Trump noted that only 6% of employees currently work in person. That figure appeared in a report by Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst about telework, relying on a non-scientific survey of about 6,500 federal workers.
But that figure differs from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. According to the OPM’s latest report, 54% of the 2.28 million civilian workers employed by the federal government work entirely in person . The office found the remaining 46% of jobs were telework-eligible, and 10% of all the jobs were specifically telework positions with no expectation of on-site work.
Gonzalez said the numbers show Trump is “misinformed” about how many employees are working fully remote.
He also said telework is appropriate for many positions and can be more productive.
Mike Gayzagian, president of local 2617 of the TSA Officers Union, representing TSA officers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, said all his members work on site, but he understands the frustration for other federal workers, especially those who took hybrid or remote jobs as part of a recruiting effort during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I think it’s disruptive to a lot of people because they’ve obviously been working remote for a long time,” Gayzagian said. “I’m sure a lot of people took positions because they were remote positions.”
In addition to the telework order, Trump signed an order that places a hiring freeze on federal agencies including the Internal Revenue Service. GBH News received information from a Massachusetts-based applicant about a job notice that said “the IRS has temporarily paused all external hiring activity.”
Gonzalez said the hiring freeze will further harm federal agencies that are already shorthanded.
“It’s going to impact the public the most because there are already delays,“ he said.
