From today’s The Independent:
Donald Trump promised his presidency would usher in a “golden age” for American workers, but his administration has gutted union protections for tens of thousands of federal workers in what labor activists and historians have called the largest acts of union busting in American history.
Nearly half a million federal workers lost their union protections last month in the wake of the president’s executive orders demanding federal agencies abandon collective bargaining agreements and appeals court orders upholding those decisions.
In March, the president issued an executive order ending collective bargaining rights for federal workers at more than a dozen agencies, effectively cancelling legally binding union contracts that cover a vast swath of agencies that are now on track to no longer recognize union representation.
Last week, days before Labor Day, Trump issued another executive order similarly stripping union rights from thousands more employees at six other federal agencies.
“This is how President Trump is commemorating Labor Day: continuing his administration’s all-out attack on workers and unions,” according to A.F.L.-C.I.O. president Liz Shuler.
“When those workers can’t speak up on the job and make sure their offices are serving the American people, we are all at risk,” she said in a statement last week.
Unions sued the administration earlier this year, arguing the president’s actions amount to retaliatory threats to workers’ First Amendment rights, but appeals courts have kept the orders in place while legal challenges continue.
Read the complete story here.