Portside

The Trump administration on Monday declared that union contract language that allows government employees to telework are invalid, escalating its hardball approach to exert control over the federal workforce.

The Office of Personnel Management issued a guidance document asserting that both the availability of telework and the positions that are eligible for such flexibility are a “management right” that lays outside of the bargaining table.

“Provisions of collective bargaining agreements that conflict with management rights are unlawful and cannot be enforced,” OPM’s memo states in bolded text.

The memo is likely to spark further conflict between the White House and the coterie of labor unions representing government employees, which had in some instances worked to enshrine safeguards for these provisions in collective bargaining agreements.

President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have fumed at such terms, especially ones locked in the later parts of the Biden administration, believing it slows down government operations and is ripe for abuse.

In the Monday memo, OPM instructed agencies to comb through the telework and remote work components of their existing contracts “to determine if any provisions are unenforceable.” It notes that prior precedent from the Federal Labor Relations Authority, the arm of the government that adjudicates internal labor disputes, allows agencies to declare such provisions “unenforceable” and no longer be bound by them.

OPM also stated that “provisions that require agencies to provide minimum telework levels, or prevent agencies from setting maximum telework levels are likely unlawful.”

This latest guidance clears the way for the Trump administration to crank up efforts to return federal workers to government offices, in accordance with a directive the president issued on Inauguration Day. And the missive comes just days before the Trump administration’s self-imposed deadline for federal workers to apply for “deferred resignation” that would exempt them from the return-to-office mandate and keep them on the government payroll through Sept. 30. The administration also recently dangled an early retirement option to certain federal workers in hopes of enticing them out the door.

Labor unions and some Democratic elected officials have actively encouraged federal workers to reject the Trump administration’s offer, saying that they cannot be trusted to follow through on their promises and may not have the legal authority offer these packages in the first place. 

Last week Trump mused during a bill signing that scores of federal workers “will be terminated” if they don’t show up in government offices by Feb. 6. 

“We think a very substantial number of people will not show up to work, and therefore our government will get smaller and more efficient, and that’s what we’ve been looking to do for many, many decades,” he said.