According to a new report, President Joe Biden has moved to eliminate all ten of former President Donald Trump‘s appointees from the Federal Service Impasses Panel.
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Huffpost reported the 46th POTUS requested the members resign, and most complied. The two who denied were then fired by the new administration. The FSIP is established to bargaining disputes between federal agencies and worker unions, but according to the unions, Trump’s appointees had other motives. According to the reports, the unions were satisfied with Biden’s move.
“The outgoing panel, appointed by the previous administration and stacked with transparently biased union-busters, was notorious for ignoring the law to gut workplace rights and further an extreme political agenda,” said Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, in a statement HuffPost reported.
According to Government Executive, Trump’s appointees were not qualified to sit on the panel. Members serve set terms, however, they do not currently require Senate confirmation. New members appointed by Biden have not been confirmed.
“The FSIP members unilaterally installed by President Trump can best be described as a ‘who’s who’ of union busters and anti-government ideologues,” said International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Secretary-Treasurer Matt Biggs, according to GE. “They spent the better part of the last four years unilaterally imposing draconian contracts on federal unions and their members. These are contracts that were not the result of good-faith bargaining and compromise. Rather, they were intended to pull the rug out from under the union from any realistic ability to represent their members.”
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HuffPost reported some of the changes federal workers are excited to see from the Biden administration include his withdraw of executive orders from Trump that targeted federal unions.
Tony Reardon, President of the National Treasury Employees Union, said the difference between the two administrations has been “night and day,” according to the report.
“Having those folks who are supportive of federal employees and have a deep respect for the work federal employees do, it’s something I am just incredibly happy about,” he stated.
theGrio reported during his first days in office, President Joe Biden moved quickly to roll-back work done or work ignored by the Trump administration, especially in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“There is an old saying: ‘Make the main thing the main thing.’ And the Biden White House knows that’s the main thing,” said Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist. “If they can improve the pandemic response in the next 100 days, then they can move on to other priorities, they’ll have the capital for legislative fights. But they need to get it right.”
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