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By Chris Brady
Federal workers are used to being vilified. It’s a convenient punching down opportunity for politicians and pundits; our government doesn’t work, and the mascot of this inefficiency is the faceless bureaucrat, paid by the taxpayers’ dime. Politicizing federal workers has been a strategy since the Carter administration. Federal workers live and work across the country, including 25,488 in Massachusetts, making the United States government the Commonwealth’s 4th biggest employer.
There is, naturally, some truth to narratives of inefficiency – our government has been stripped for parts and sold to private companies over decades, which is not conducive to administering social welfare, maintaining public infrastructure, or reining in those very private interests through common-sense regulation.
Federal employees are critically important in maintaining a functional country: responsible for funding school disability programs, ensuring clean water standards, enforcing antitrust and labor regulation, and much more. Public servants, unlike the private sector, are at least somewhat accountable to the public because their jobs and duties come from Congress – which is more conducive to the democratic society that socialists are striving for.
The new Trump administration has made it clear that they intend to take up the mantle of attacking the public sector. It is important to identify motivations behind this discourse, and how federal employees are reacting, and to connect federal worker issues and the broader class struggle to inform organizers as we prepare for a likely crackdown on labor in the incoming administration.
Sharks Circle the Bureaucrats
Elon Musk shared this AI generated image after announcing DOGE on X, the everything app.
Elon Musk has been rewarded for his 250 million dollar investment in President Trump’s re-election with a pseudo-appointment to head the new Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE), named in reference to the meme dog. Vivek Ramaswamy was also tasked with co-chair of the department, although his current role is unclear after announcing a campaign for governor of Ohio. DOGE is not an official government agency and only exists in an advisory capacity.
That has not stopped Musk from identifying a litany of agencies, regulations, and staffing changes he hopes to pursue, such as considering cutting entire agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Education, and even the Federal Reserve. Additional reports indicate that “DEI programs” are also in DOGE’s crosshairs. Notably, Musk has not publicly addressed what is widely understood to be the area of greatest government excess and bloat, the military and subsequent vampiric defense contractors which guide U.S. foreign policy. It is unclear if Musk’s role as CEO of government defense contractor SpaceX has influenced this omission.
Trump re-appointed Russel Vought to head the influential Office of Management and Budget, which is responsible for budget development and execution of government agencies, among other things. Vought was one of the architects of the Heritage Foundation’s notorious “Project 2025”, which includes many stipulations about reforming federal work. One of the most controversial components of the plan includes categorizing swaths of federal workers, likely tens of thousands or more, as ‘Schedule F’ employees. This change would reclassify many federal career postings as political appointments, and potentially allow room for political fealty tests to the current administration as a condition of employment.
Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), chair of the Senate DOGE caucus, has introduced multiple bills targeting federal workers. The ‘Drain the Swamp Act’ would relocate 30% of certain federal staff outside of the D.C. area, forcing thousands of workers to move without compensation, and another would fiercely restrict federal telework policy. Senator Ernst cited an inaccurate study to support the measure. The Senate Ways and Means Committee is considering a proposal to increase the federal pension deduction for some workers from .8% to 4.4% per paycheck.
Federal workforces’ right to collective bargaining is also on the chopping block. According to reporting from the Washington Post, incoming ranking Trump staffer Stephen Miller’s office was reported to be presenting a barrage of anti-federal workforce executive orders to congressional leadership. One such order involves enabling the President to prevent federal workers from collective bargaining, citing national security concerns, and removing a central worker protection which upends decades of precedent. 56% of the federal workforce is protected by collective bargaining contracts, and federal workers have some of the highest rates of union participation in the country.
Although this There is no debate – this is a declaration of war on the public sector, civil service, and labor writ large.
Air Traffic Controllers and Historic Precedent
Trump is not the first administration to target federal workers for political purposes. Infamously, Reagan’s busting of the 1981 Professional Air Traffic Controllers (PATCO) illegal strike, culminating in the termination of 11,325 workers who had refused the President’s back to work order, has dealt a lasting blow to the American labor movement. The strike bust came despite PATCO’s endorsement of Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign. The defeat marked the beginning of a decline in union participation which has continued until this day, and the beginning of a change in public perception to view unions and government workers much more negatively.
Professor Joseph McCartin outlines how federal workers broadly missed an opportunity to show solidarity with the air traffic controllers in his leading history of the strike, Collision Course. The firing of 11,325 workers could have incited action from workers everywhere. Instead, federal employees watched as the Reagan administration pulverized their colleagues – granted, PATCO never reached out for help – exposing a significant omission of solidarity among federal workers that was leveraged against them. McCartin states, “The PATCO’s ghost still has the capacity to instill fear”, which materialized with private sector bosses emulating Reagan-style strike busting with new vigor. Additionally, PATCO lost the PR battle, and never articulated to the American people why we should be invested in their fair treatment. Lessons from 1981 remain prescient as federal workers navigate the coming months.
The AFA-CWA flight attendants union provides a hopeful counterweight, when in 2017, they threatened to go on strike in protest of the 35-day ongoing government shutdown. What is notable about this action was not just that it was tremendously effective, with the President greenlighting a temporary spending bill the next day and re-opening the government, but that flight attendants are private sector employees. They identified intersections between their employment and the shutdown despite not being personally affected, while also advocating for their own interests, given that the unpaid air traffic controllers were a direct threat to airline safety. It is an incredible example of how workers are capable of using our power for political change, and how solidarity across sectors is absolutely essential for our movement.
How Are Federal Workers Reacting?
Federal employees are nervous, according to Harper, a federal employee at a financial regulatory agency and rank and file union member.
“I joined the federal service to serve other people, but it doesn’t feel good to be caught in the crosshairs of this. Federal employees are thinking, what’s my backup plan?”
These reforms are likely the manifestation of an ideological privatization crusade furiously advocated for by conservative think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and Americans for Tax Reform, but have an added consequence of eroding established labor protections. Harper adds, “Federal workers are one of the most organized sectors in the workforce, that’s part of the agenda here.”
Ellen is a union steward and federal employee who works in public assistance benefit administration. She noted that her office’s union membership increased by 10% in the past two months, indicating that federal workers are proactively responding to a changing employment environment. “People have been encouraged to better understand their working environment, there is no longer complacency where there once might’ve been.”
She also adds that DOGE is not omnipotent. “There is a lot of speculation right now, but they have to go through the proper legal procedures. There are 60+ years of Congressional legislation to work through, outlining our agency’s mission and responsibilities. As long as we know the rules, and hit them in the head with the rules, we have a better chance.”
Federal workers are represented by multiple unions, some affiliated with the AFL-CIO while some are independent. The unions have historically worked together during government shutdowns, when much of the civil service is furloughed or temporarily work without pay. “Inter-union solidarity is crucial. All federal workers have to listen to the 535 members of the United States Congress to do our jobs, Congress members forget that we are workers and residents in their districts and they need to listen to us to do their jobs too. We can, and must, band together as federal workers.” The exact next steps of a broader coalition of federal workers is currently unclear, but clearly organizing across federal agencies will be essential – and urgent.
Civil servants are generally cautious of political activism. The Hatch Act is a federal law which prohibits federal workers from engaging in some forms of political activity. Originally intended as a measure to combat corruption and the spoils system, it has recently been weaponized to crack down on free speech. Notably, the Office of Special Counsel accused one federal worker of violating the Hatch Act after penning an op-ed criticizing the Biden administration’s genocide in Gaza. The worker was later found to not be in violation of the law. The Hatch Act does not prevent federal workers from engaging in political activity, protesting, or organizing outside of work, but has had a chilling effect on the organizing potential of these workers due to fear of repression.
The American Federation of Governmental Employees (AFGE) just filed a lawsuit in conjunction with Public Citizen and the State Democracy Defenders Fund against D.O.G.E. to ensure the group complies with the Federal Advisory Committee Act.
How Do Federal Worker Issues Affect the Class Struggle?
The federal workforce occupies a unique position within class society. Federal workers perform critical functions that improve the lives of millions of Americans: maintaining national parks, building civilian infrastructure, distributing SNAP benefits, and inspecting food and medicine, among many other essential services. On the other hand, some federal employees participate in the militarization of the border, surveillance of American citizens, and the implementation of vile foreign policy apparatus such as the genocide in Gaza. Despite these contrasts, all federal workers share the same employer, and many are represented by the same unions. This is one example of the many contradictions we must grapple with under capitalism.
Federal workers are, fundamentally, workers. True liberation will only come with a political transformation that abolishes our government’s reactionary and genocidal functions while empowering those that genuinely serve the public good. The workers most likely to suffer under upcoming DOGE reforms are not those complicit in these oppressive functions but rather those whose jobs most directly support and uplift the public.
As neoliberalism nears its end, a ruthless brand of faux-populism is rising to take its place. The oligarchs surrounding Donald Trump seem determined to continue Reagan’s privatization agenda. Their strategy is clear: deliberately undermine the effectiveness of government services, then use that dysfunction as a pretext for further privatization. Worse, drawing lessons from the 1981 PATCO defeat, they see federal workers as the ideal test subjects for implementing harsher anti-union policies, potentially setting the stage for a broader assault on labor rights across the nation.
Federal employees may sense the storm ahead, but readiness is uncertain. The actions of federal unions in the coming months will be critical—potentially leading either to a mass exodus of public-sector workers or to a groundswell of mobilization and transformative change. Existing unions would do well to draw inspiration from the militancy of the flight attendants at AFA-CWA. Educating the American public about the essential work performed by federal employees is vital. A stronger sense of class-consciousness and more vocal leadership within the federal workforce are needed to meet the challenges ahead.
Coalitions of rank-and-file federal employees must organize and strategize to protect themselves. DSA and organizations like it should actively support these efforts. The PATCO strike of 1981 was a devastating defeat, but as the forces of capital and labor prepare for another confrontation, we have a chance to rewrite history. This time, the outcome could mark a turning point—where collective action reclaims power and reshapes the future of federal labor for the better.
Federal workers are invited to share their stories with @fedsworkforyou on instagram.
Chris Brady is a member of Boston DSA.
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