One ‘lame-duck’ agreement bars the Department of Education from requiring remote workers to return to the office.
President Donald Trump issued a memorandum Jan. 31 limiting union contracts made under the Biden administration.
The memo, which does not have the force of an executive order, directs all agreements executed in the 30 days before Trump was inaugurated to be deemed invalid.
Trump wrote in the memo that the collective bargaining agreements with federal employees finalized shortly before he took office extended “wasteful and failing policies” of the Biden administration.
Standards are also established that declare no agency, employee, or executive department shall enter into bargaining agreements related to conditions of employment in the 30 days before handing over power to a new administration.
The president cited one policy—enacted three days before he took office—where the Department of Education is prohibited from requiring remote workers to return to the office, as just one example of the challenges he seeks to overcome.
According to the memo, restrictive contractual agreements are detrimental to the president’s authority and the executive branch, preventing effective and efficient management practices.
“Such last-minute, lame-duck [collective bargaining agreements], which purport to bind a new President to his predecessor’s policies, run counter to America’s system of democratic self-government,” Trump wrote.
Trump has taken on collective bargaining agreements with labor unions in the past, including with a series of executive orders in 2018 in his first term in office aimed at limiting the time spent negotiating and making it easier to fire employees. The move was met with legal challenges from labor groups.
Biden subsequently rescinded the orders, which ended the legal wrangling for the time being.
Immediately after taking office for the second time, the president signed a memo directing all federal departments and agencies to terminate remote work arrangements and requiring all employees to return to full-time in-person work.
Additionally, under the president’s leadership, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management sent emails Jan. 28 to nearly all federal employees—except military, immigration and national security, and postal employees, among others—offering deferred resignation packages that allow workers to receive full pay and benefits until Sept. 30 if they sign resignation letters by Feb. 6.
“The federal workforce is expected to undergo significant near-term changes,” officials wrote in the email. “As a result of these changes, or for other reasons, you may wish to depart the federal government on terms that provide you with sufficient time and economic security to plan for your future—and have a nice vacation.”