this post was submitted on 02 Feb 2025
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Summary

Trump is nullifying federal employee union contracts negotiated in Biden’s final days.

Affected contracts include one with the Education Department ratified just before his inauguration. Trump cited a 2010 Supreme Court decision to justify his stance but did not provide a clear legal basis.

Federal employee unions, representing 800,000 workers, vowed legal action, calling Trump’s move unlawful intimidation.

This continues Trump’s prior efforts to weaken job protections, with additional plans to reclassify and lay off civil servants.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I wonder whether this is his play book:

  1. Be shitbag to workers
  2. Force general strike
  3. Demonize victims who've resorted to only leverage to get fair working conditions (back)

I further bet it's the one translated from Russian.

[–] [email protected] 76 points 3 days ago (3 children)

All I have to say, and I said it on that day of the RNC, but fuck that union guy for actually thinking the GOP gave 2 shots about unions after generations of fighting like Hell to gut them. Also fuck him for not endorsing the candidate who, while not necessarily a friend of unions, certainly wouldn’t have been actively working against them.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 3 days ago (13 children)

I mean I can understand him not wanting to endorse Kamala when she directly told him we can win with or without you. That doesn't exactly sound like the kind of person you would want to endorse if they don't even seem to really care about you or the people you represent. But yeah endorsing Trump was a stupid move, he really should have just not endorsed either of them.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

There you go orange man, mess with the unions.

[–] [email protected] 169 points 4 days ago (1 children)

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 3 days ago

Get up and get to it folks. Get sabotage manuals etc while you can, and try to do so using Tor.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago

Go Teamsters!

[–] [email protected] 146 points 4 days ago (9 children)

Throw out the Union contact? Then union members need to... go on strike. That's the power they have, and the only reason we've been able to get some worker protections.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 days ago

They want to destroy the administrative state. A strike only helps them further that goal. They just won't even bother negotiating.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago

The reason they have contracts is so they can take this to court instead of striking.

However, after this goes through a bunch of courts and ends up in the "supreme" one....

[–] [email protected] 100 points 3 days ago (5 children)

That's also pretty damn close to what Trump genuinely wants - for everyone currently doing the work to quit. That way he can install lackeys across the board.

Strikes normally work because the other side wants something - usually the business owner wants labor to create a product. That isn't the case here.

I'm not saying it's pointless, but the classic strategies will need to be rethought.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Are there enough lackeys? If quality falls through the floor as well, won't it just further cement how dumb this whole strategy is? We may be taking lessons that it'll take a few years to learn but...

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

Probably not, when you consider that he’s also about to deport a lot of your farm and construction workers…maybe he’ll find a way to get retirees, most of who will be his supporters, back to work.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Then they just privatize it and give it all to their wealthy buddies. For the things that they will even bother replacing... They want this shit to fail and they will replace most of it with nothing.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 days ago

Creation is always more difficult than destruction, and none of our society was built without some kind of need. Most people like to build with others. Some take advantage of that spirit and become leaders for the sake of leading. Only morons would simultaneously covet power and actively work against people's basic motivations.

I am working with others to actively fight should it come to that. But no matter what, we escaped the dark ages once, we'll do so again.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 3 days ago (1 children)

unions around the country need to join in sympathy strikes

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 days ago

Half the unions will be dissolved due to lack of work shortly, anyway.

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 days ago (2 children)

yes, yes it is. now how do we organize 15-30% of the country for meaningful direct action?

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[–] [email protected] 63 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Hah! The presidency sure does provide a lot of power but he's about to find out just where that ends. If 800,000 workers go on strike he and his cronies won't be able to exist in their rich person bubbles.

The runways will be closed. The borders won't let them in or out. Public transport everywhere will stop functioning. The banks will be forced to stop letting them send money due to laws regarding transaction reporting that go through Federal union employees (I mean, I guess they could try to live their rich person lives with nothing but transactions under $10,000 🤷).

Just about everything going on in the US from a logistics and economic perspective relies on the work of Federal union employees. They don't even need to go on strike (which would technically be illegal but if Trump doesn't need to follow the law why should federal employees‽). They could just reduce everything to a crawl and it would have the same effect.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Hes trying to get them to quit. Going on strike would actually help him achieve his goals by repalcing them with more loyalist

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago (3 children)

You can be fired for striking in the USA? Thats wank if so.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

Not technically, but your employer can hire someone to do your job while you're striking. The result is that when the strike is over, your job is filled and instead of going back to work, you are placed at the top of the rehire list for whenever that job becomes available again.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 days ago (1 children)

For a good example of striking employees getting fired, see: the air traffic controller/PATCO strike under Reagan in 1981.

This is painting it with very broad strokes, but you can essentially be fired because they don’t like the color of your shirt buttons in most places (“at-will employment”). Sure, there technically has to be a reason, but your employer can find one.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, I’ve heard about that, but I didn’t realise it was that bad, or a majority.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

In most states, you can be fired without any reason for it at all. We have almost no worker protections here.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I don't think there are enough loyalists. These are technical jobs amongst other things.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago (2 children)

There are enough already in those positions. Even heavily biased industries rarely get close to being dominated by one political party. The 'liberal white towers' of academia are only something like 1:6 Dem/left:Rep/right, and that's usually one of the extremes that republicans bitch about. They'd bitch about other industries if they were anywhere close. I would bet there are enough lackeys and people who feel neutral that the oh-so-important people don't feel much negative blowback.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I do think he wants everyone to quit and be replaced. I don't think he cares if the role is filled by someone qualified or not. That's my fear, this is truly to wreck the US.

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[–] [email protected] 76 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I'm so tired of people proclaiming that NOW finally, Trump will see the consequences of his chaotic stupidity and petulant egocentrism!

No, he's not going to "find out" anything, because he does not give a fuck who suffers and his supporters will gargle his balls no matter what he does.

You're absolutely right about the consequences of this latest crime, except for the part where Trump in any way feels anything negative about the experience.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 days ago (1 children)

No, he does care who suffers. It's his entire goal.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 4 days ago

That's a misconception about narcissists. He really doesn't care, as long as he benefits. He's a team of one, and everything else is negotiable.

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[–] [email protected] 189 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Unions have a long and violent history of not wanting to be fucked with, we'll see how well this plays out for the orange Cunt

[–] [email protected] 40 points 4 days ago (5 children)

These are a bunch of civil servants, not tradespeople. Trade unions are the ones you don't fuck with.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Just a friendly reminder that multiple Roman emperors were killed by bureaucrats.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Not at all, unless you consider the Praetorian Guard "bureaucrats", which would be a hell of a stretch.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Aurelian and several Eastern Roman emperors beg to differ.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

I'll grant you Aurelian, but equating the Byzantine court to HR department staff is... something. I think the analogue there would be if congress or the Chiefs of Staff were to depose the President.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, that's my concern I've worked with the civil servants. They're angry all the time but never do anything.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Surely there must be a few of them that arenot "angry and lazy"?

There must be at least a few that make the Government actually function?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Have you seen any backlash to date other than hand-wringing online?

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I'm not saying they're lazy I'm just saying they are not going to do anything about being angry.

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[–] [email protected] 54 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I suspect trades unions might join with them in solidarity. The civil servants would have to put themselves on the line, but I think they would have support.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 4 days ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

The fuck? Shawn Fain supports tariffs?!?

Dude what the fuck is happening?

[–] [email protected] 31 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Well the context is, he supports tariffs that protect American factory jobs. He supports investing in worker protections and domestic factories. He’s basically saying that when American factories exist for a product, products made elsewhere with cheaper foreign labor should have tariffs on them to raise the price of those foreign goods to protect domestic workers. That is actually a reasonable position.

What is not a reasonable position is imposing tariffs when we have no domestic production while simultaneously destroying American worker protections to ensure that we continue to have no domestic production and that workers have even less than they did before.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago

Yeah. That first bit is competition law essentially, the guy seems to get a bit confused though. Trump might speak to the little guy, but he’s not speaking to defend them.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 days ago
[–] [email protected] 78 points 4 days ago

Piss enough people off and it don't matter the flavor of union

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[–] [email protected] 95 points 4 days ago
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