Thirteen labor unions and the AFL-CIO’s Metal Trades Department filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration Friday to stop the White House’s effort to limit government employees’ practice of doing union work instead of their jobs while being paid by taxpayers.
“On May 25, the Friday before Memorial Day, President Trump signed three executive orders that the affiliated unions of the Metal Trades Department, AFL-CIO, contends violated the due process and collective bargaining rights of workers employed by the federal government,” stated Metal Trades Department President James Hart. “The president’s executive order is an attack on our hard-working members and their rights.”
The executive orders are intended to ensure that what is known as “official time” is only done part time. The administration’s goal is to weed out union officials who work exclusively on official time and do no work for taxpayers, according to sources familiar with the administration’s plans.
The orders prohibit federal employees from being allowed to spend more than a quarter of their paid time doing union business. Union representatives cannot use official time to file grievances against a department, a scenario in which the government is literally paying to be sued.
The orders also require union representatives to remain properly licensed and qualified for their official federal jobs. The Office of Personnel Management will be required to track and make public all data regarding the use of official time, including the cost to taxpayers.
The unions argue that the orders exceed the president’s authority and that congressional legislation would be required to rewrite the civil service rules. They also argue that the prohibition of filing grievances on official time undermines a union’s ability to represent its workers.
Official time was first allowed under the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act and is essentially viewed as a trade-off for certain limitations put on federal worker unions, such as prohibitions on striking. Its use is widespread, and it increased during President Barack Obama’s administration.
The White House’s Office of Personnel Management reported last month that official time cost taxpayers $175 million in 2016, up from $162 million in 2014, the last time the practice was surveyed. The total number of official time hours was 3.6 million, up 100,000 hours from 2014.
