(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Billionaire Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy’s plan to downsize the federal government entails requiring bureaucrats to return to pre-COVID working conditions.
“Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome,” Musk and Ramaswamy, who are heading Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, reportedly explained in a Wall Street Journal op-ed last month.
But that plan just hit a major roadblock, with Bloomberg reporting Tuesday that the country’s largest federal employees union just signed a deal with the Biden administration to continue remote-work until 2029, when Trump leaves office for good.
According to Bloomberg, American Federation of Government Employees, a union representing 42,000 Social Security Administration workers, reached a deal with the Biden administration that will let workers “maintain current levels of telework.” The deal was reportedly inked by President Joe Biden’s just-departed Social Security Administration Commissioner, Martin O’Malley.
“Under those current arrangements, in-office requirements range from two to five days per week, varying by job,” Bloomberg reported, citing anonymous sources as well as an internal AFGE union message. “Unions have been pushing the outgoing Biden administration to extend existing collective bargaining agreements with federal workers in advance of Trump’s inauguration next month.”
Bloomberg reported that AFGE chapter president Rich Couture told his members that “this deal will secure not just telework for SSA employees, but will secure staffing levels through prevention of higher attrition, which in turn will secure the ability of the Agency to serve the public.”
A federal Office of Management and Budget spokesperson reportedly declined to comment on the matter. An AFGE spokesperson also declined to comment, while a Social Security Administration spokesperson reportedly confirmed that the SSA “memorialized its preexisting telework policy in its contract with AFGE.”
Bloomberg reported that AFGE chapter president Rich Couture told his members that “this deal will secure not just telework for SSA employees, but will secure staffing levels through prevention of higher attrition, which in turn will secure the ability of the Agency to serve the public.”
Bloomberg added that the deal may not stop the Trump administration from requiring at-office work.
“But reneging on a contract could lead to protracted legal disputes, as well as protests and pushback from lawmakers,” the outlet warned.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
