North Alabama unions condemn Trump ban on collective bargaining for federal employees

HUNTSVILLE — Calling the move a “flagrant violation of the law and our rights,” North Alabama’s labor unions have condemned President Trump’s executive order ending collective bargaining for federal employees.

“Last week, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that purports to eliminate collective bargaining rights for two-thirds of federal workers and 75% of those that are currently represented by a union,” said Jacob Morrison, president of the North Alabama Area Labor Council. “He alleges that collective bargaining is inconsistent with national security at all the affected agencies.

“Trump does not believe that federal workers who engage in collective bargaining actually imperils national security. He gives away the game in his ‘Fact Sheet’: this is retaliation against federal workers and our unions who have refused to sit idly by as Trump and his billionaire buddies take a chainsaw to our sisters and brothers.”

The Trump administration aims to take away union rights for tens of thousands of federal workers in North Alabama and approximately 1 million nationwide in an illegal attack, said Morrison, a member of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1858.

Representatives and members of the area’s unions are encouraged to join Saturday’s protest at Huntsville’s Big Spring Park, Morrison said.

“North Alabama’s unions call on Alabama’s congressional delegation to stand up for their constituents against this flagrant violation of the law and our rights,” he said.

Morrison said the removal of collective bargaining rights not only harms federal workers and further degrades working conditions, “but it also hampers our ability to serve the public and execute our missions.”

“This order is a middle finger to the 1 million working people it affects directly, and to all working people everywhere,” Morrison said. “The order tells Alabamians at Redstone Arsenal that we don’t deserve a voice on the job. It tells us that we shouldn’t speak up and defend our fellow workers.

“It tells us that we don’t deserve due process and that our expertise on our jobs does not matter.”