Calling Upon the Trump Administration to uphold the Collective Bargaining Rights of Federal Workers.

WHEREAS, The Trump Administration is attacking the collective bargaining rights of federal workers through the imposition of contracts designed to eliminate federal employees’ representation rights and the presence of the union in the federal workplace; and

WHEREAS, Recent contracts imposed by federal agencies on multiple federal employee unions across the government have severely limited the representation rights of federal workers in the workplace and would all but prevent the exercise of federal workers’ right to represent one another through their union; and

WHEREAS, These contracts have affected the rights of workers and unions in the City of Philadelphia, including employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Park Service, the Defense Logistics Agency, the U.S. Mint, the Social Security Administration’s Mid-Atlantic Service Center, and many more; and

WHEREAS, The unions representing these agencies have been evicted from office space and lost the time needed to provide representation to employees who are citizens of the City of Philadelphia -- providing no space for the union to conduct specific representational duties as required by federal law; and

WHEREAS, Federal workers in Philadelphia care for our City’s veterans; provide direct support to the military; inspect our food and water; provide the elderly and disabled with essential benefits and services; and preserve our national heritage and parks; and

WHEREAS, Federal employees are dedicated public servants who provide vital services to Philadelphians and to our City; their rights in the workplace should be respected, and their right to have a voice in the workplace through union representation should be protected; and

WHEREAS, The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 codified collective bargaining rights for federal employees and deemed collective bargaining in the federal government in the interest of the public; and

WHEREAS, This body calls upon the Trump administration to stop the implementation of the anti-union Executive Orders 13836, 13837, and 13839, and to stop unilaterally imposing contracts which eliminate the presence of the union in the federal workplace, which severely restrict the conditions under which federal workers can bargain, and which undermine federal employees’ right to union representation, enshrined in law by Congressional action; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, THAT THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, Calls upon the Trump Administration to uphold the collective bargaining rights of federal workers.

FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be forwarded to the White House, as evidence of the sincere sentiment of this legislative body.

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