Worker Policy Watch
Your source for accurate and reliable information on how federal policies are shaping workers’ rights—and what’s at stake for working people nationwide under the Trump administration.
Search tracker
Trump Fires Acting NLRB General Counsel
Just days after firing Jennifer Abruzzo, Trump also fires Jessica Rutter, the Acting NLRB General Counsel, continuing his attempt to neuter the NLRB so that it cannot protect workers and their rights.
Impact:
While workers can still file charges with NLRB district offices, employers now have a tool to keep delaying and appealing every adverse decision they get so as to stop workers from vindicating their rights to join unions and collectively bargain with their employers.
Trump Purges Target Federal Workers Who Did Not Work in Diversity Programs
Trump ordered federal agencies to eliminate positions related to implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. These purges have gone beyond targeting employees tasked with those specific programs, and have expanded to include workers who in the past had some involvement in programs designed to make their workplaces more inclusive - like affinity groups or diversity trainings.
Impact:
Trump-appointed leadership at at the Department of Education are seeking to purge workers who expressed interest in building more inclusive workplaces. This may have a disproportionate impact on women and workers of color who may be more likely to participate in such programs. The union representing workers at the department reported that only two of the 50 workers impacted to date had jobs that focused solely on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and the total number may be closer to 100 employees.
OPM is ordered to prepare to cut 70% of it’s workforce
OPM Leaders were also ordered to stop working on anything that isn't statutorily required.
Impact:
OPM is the human resources department for the entire federal government. It simply could not function with a 70% reduction in force. This would jeaopardize the wages, benefits, and privacy of personal data of all federal employees. This could also indicate that the administration wants to make equally grossly irresponsible cuts to the workforce in other agencies.
Aides to Elon Musk have locked career civil servants out of the OPM computer systems that contain private personnel information about present and past federal employees
This is an unprecedented and dangerous violation of privacy and risk to the security of OPM's data about federal employees, both past and present.
Impact:
Personal data about anyone who ever was or is employed by the federal government is now in the hands of private actors who have no respect for federal service, and those legally charged with access to and protection of that data are locked out of the system.
Trump issues an executive order mandating that for every new rule, regulation or guidance issued, ten must be repealed
This is an attempt to repeal the regulations that keep all of us safe from hazards in every aspect of our life. For workers, it could mean repealing rules that keep them safe on the job, that guarantee they get paid, and that protect their civil rights.
Impact:
To quote Public Citizen, “Trump’s preposterous deregulatory executive order — demanding ten rules go for every one issued — is a flat out gift to polluters, grifters, reckless employers, and Big Business overall. What’s more, the order is unbelievably stupid and illegal."
Employees at Multiple Federal Agencies Ordered to Remove Pronouns from their Email Signatures by End-of-Day 1/31/2025
Employees at the Departments of Energy and Transportation and the Centers for Disease Control were all ordered to remove pronouns from their email signatures.
Impact:
This infringes on federal employees' freedom of expression and is an attempt to erase the gender identity of anyone who doesn't conform to the gender identity they were assigned at birth.
Federal Public Health Websites Remove All References and Information about Transgender and gender non-conforming people
Not only does the public now lack important health information, the Administration's attempts to erase trans and gender non-conforming people and their rights has implications in workplaces across the country.
Impact:
These actions are license to discriminate against and harass workers who don't conform to the gender binary, and could also result in employers not properly caring for the health and safety of transgender workers on the job.
Trump Signs an Executive Order Attempting to Void Collective Bargaining Agreements with Federal Unions
The Executive Order purports to void any CBAs that were entered into during the final 30 days of President Biden's term.
Impact:
Many of these CBAs included agreements to allow federal employees to continue to work remotely and the current administration is trying to void these CBAs so that they can force people back into physical offices. Federal sector unions plan to use all available remedies to defend and enforce the current CBAs.
Unions and Worker Groups Sue Trump Administration to Block Roll Back of Federal Workforce Protections
Labor groups and several worker organizations have filed lawsuits to block the Trump Administration’s attempt to make it easier to fire federal workers by stripping them of civil service protections and reclassifying their positions as at-will under “Schedule F.”
Impact:
At least three different lawsuits have been filed as of 1/31/25 to block the Trump administration’s “Schedule F” executive order that threatens the job security of millions of federal employees. The lawsuits are being led by Democracy Forward, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and American Federation of Government Employees, National Treasury Employees Union, and the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
Vulnerability of Trump Administration Federal Workforce Email System Underscored by Derogatory Email Sent to Thousands of Federal Workers
Federal Worker Security and Privacy Concerns continue to be raised after 13,000 federal employees receive emails with vulgar and derogatory language from a federal employee upset with the Trump Administration.
Impact:
Over 13,000 federal employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) received emails with explicit language in response to an earlier Trump administration email imploring federal employees to resign. It underscores the privacy and data vulnerability of federal workers under the new Trump administration’s email system that is vulnerable to hacking and already the subject of a lawsuit brought by two federal employees citing security concerns.