Virginia democratic Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton called on her party’s presidential primary candidates to clarify how they intend to manage the federal workforce in light of what she called a “failure” by the Trump administration to treat such workers fairly.
“If elected, you will be the head of our federal agencies and their more than 2 million employees, 85 percent of whom live outside the Washington, D.C., Metro region. Your title won’t just be Commander-in-Chief of our armed forces, you will be the CEO of the largest employer in our country,” Wexton wrote in a Feb. 26 letter, explaining that the administration’s attacks on labor organizations and appointment of leadership hostile to agencies’ missions has demoralized the federal workforce.
“Federal workers make America work. What will you do to reinstill faith in our nation’s best and brightest that a career in public service is one worth pursuing?”
As Wexton noted in her letter, the national debates leading up to and during the democratic primary elections have not asked candidates about their intent for the federal workforce, though many candidates have elaborated on that subject in their published plans.
Of the seven candidates that qualified for the Feb. 24 democratic debate, all have expressed general support for organized labor, calling for protections of the private sector workforce’s right to organize as well as for unionization at state-level governments.
Many of the candidates also called for federal contracts to go to companies that provide sufficient benefits to their employees and have not been deemed hostile to organized labor.
But federal employees on the whole already have protections to engage in collective bargaining, and only some of the candidates addressed that demographic specifically in their published plans.
Sen. Bernie Sanders
Sanders called for federal workers to have the right to strike, an action that is currently prohibited by federal labor law, which aims to keep the federal government operational while guaranteeing that federal labor unions can bargain in good faith with agency negotiators.
Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg
In addition to supporting unionization for both the public and private sectors, Buttigieg also promised support for the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act, which was partially passed as part of the fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act and guarantees 12 weeks of paid parental leave for most federal employees.
That legislation left some classifications of employee out of coverage, however, and did not include the 12 weeks of paid family leave — which also allows feds to take time to care for a sick relative — that was featured in the original bill.
Former Vice President Joe Biden
The former vice president called for the reinstatement and expansion of federal union protections under the Obama administration, as well as a Cabinet-level working group on unionization in both the public and private sectors.
Biden also committed to nominating pro-union members to the National Labor Relations Board and encouraging agencies to bargain over non-mandatory items in addition to what is required..
In the case of agency leadership, Biden promised to establish a commission on federal ethics, responsible for ensuring the enforcement of anti-corruption laws and establishing an ethics.gov website that will compile information about elected and appointed officials.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren
Perhaps the most comprehensive published strategy for managing the federal workforce, Warren’s plan aims to increase protections for federal unions, encourage a robust and diverse federal workforce and ensure the ethics of government leadership.
The plan would rescind the three executive orders signed by President Donald Trump that restrict federal unions and collective bargaining, as well as grant federal employees the right to strike.
Warren would also prioritize filling vacancies in the civil service by championing Office of Personnel Management direct hiring authorities, expediting veteran hiring, quickly reinstating qualified officials who left the agency and setting aside OPM officials to help agencies understand the authorities available to them. Meanwhile, her plan aims to crack down on contracting out federal services to private entities.
In addition to simply filling positions, Warren plans to prioritize diversity in the federal ranks, especially ensuring that the diverse ranks of the entry-level civil service actually make it up to leadership roles.
Feds would also receive continuous pay in the event of a government shutdown.
Warren’s federal leadership plan would place tighter restraints to stave off conflicts of interest or ethics violations: employees of lobbying groups would have to go through a cooling-off period before being eligible for federal leadership positions; employees of for-profit contractors, lawbreaking companies or companies that offer rewards for going into federal leadership would be barred from such positions; and senior officials would be restricted from going to work for the organizations they had previously regulated.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar
On top of supporting union protections in general and the end of Trump’s anti-union executive orders, Klobuchar specifically called out the needs of federal contractors in her plan.
Her administration would implement policies to ensure the pay and safety of employees working under federal contracts and raise the minimum wage for such employees to $15 per hour.
Klobuchar was also the only candidate to directly call for guaranteed back pay for federal contractors, an initiative that has gained traction in Congress since reports of significant negative consequences on the contracted community after the most recent government shutdown.
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Bloomberg’s plan calls for guaranteed federal pay during a shutdown, as well as general pay increases for federal employees and the prevention of outsourcing federal jobs.
Similar to the Trump administration, Bloomberg plans to make it easier for federal employees to move across agencies and in and out of the private sector, but his plan directly opposes the retirement and healthcare changes that the current administration has proposed as a part of that easier transition.
Jessie Bur covers federal IT and management.
