Show of Solidarity: Unions Voice Support for Anti-Schedule F Proposal

In October 2020, then-President Donald Trump signed a controversial executive order that established a new Schedule F employment category for federal employees.

With the directive, as many as 50,000 public sector workers in roles determined to have some influence over policy would be reassigned as at-will, Schedule F employees. That designation would effectively strip affected employees of their employment and union protections, and would make terminating them easier.

President Joe Biden rescinded the order within a week of taking office in January 2021. Trump, however, has said he plans to reissue the order if he wins the presidential election in 2024.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has sought to prevent Trump or any future president from reinstating a Schedule F order for federal workers, issuing a proposed rule that would clarify and reinforce longstanding service protections and merit system principles, according to OPM.

“The proposed rule honors our 2.2 million career civil servants, helping to ensure they can carry out their duties without fear of political reprisal,” said OPM Director Kiran Ahuja, in a September statement announcing the proposal.

On Nov. 1, a group of 14 labor organizations led by the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) voiced its support for the proposed rule, and urged OPM to “promptly” finalize regulations that would safeguard federal workers’ civil service protections.

“No President through an executive order or other action can override the Constitution or Chapter 75 and remove the property interest of tenured competitive service employees in their continued federal employment,” wrote the coalition, which includes organizations such as the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; the National Federation of Federal Employees and the American Federation of Teachers.

“OPM’s language [in its proposed rule] clarifies this well-established, existing employee right,” the group added. “ … Employees in the competitive service acquire certain statutory rights that cannot be taken away simply by moving the employee’s position into the excepted service. That is because competitive service rights are grounded not only in civil service laws, but in the Constitution as well.”

The unions also back OPM’s proposal that certain procedural steps must be followed before any federal positions are converted into essentially at-will jobs. “These important steps include reviews by the top agency’s officials and an opportunity for affected employees to respond,” NTEU noted in a statement.

The coalition’s comments submitted in support of OPM’s proposed anti-Schedule F rule “are a strong show of solidarity among public sector workers from all walks of life and a clear sign that where there is a threat to the civil service in any workplace, workers and their unions will stand together to fight back,” said NTEU National President Doreen Greenwald.

“Schedule F, or anything like it, would be a direct threat to democracy by resurrecting the corrupt spoils system of the 19^th century and converting the merit-based system into one of political patronage,” Greenwald continued. “The American people deserve to have federal agencies staffed with people who got the job based on merit, swear an oath to the Constitution and carry out their duties no matter which political party holds the White House.”