IFPTE Requests House Vote Down Anti-Federal Worker Amendments to Appropriations Bills

As the House of Representatives considered amendments to the Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) appropriations bill for fiscal year 2024 (FY24), IFPTE requested Representatives oppose two amendments that would harm federal employees’ unions and the federal civil service. Both anti-union amendments were defeated with bipartisan support.

The two amendments, offered by Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN), proposed to block an Office of Personnel Management (OPM) proposed rule and block another proposed rule put forward by the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA).

The OPM rule, Upholding Civil Service Protections and Merit System Principles,” proposes to add safeguards to the competitive service so that a presidential administration cannot convert them to excepted service positions and fire federal employees “at will,” and thereby deny them their due process rights. This rule is intended to prevent the politicization of the civil service along the lines of the “Schedule F” proposal that the Trump Administration put forward in October 2020.

The FLRA rule restores the previous regulation on when the one-year interval that federal employees can change their dues revocation. That one-year window was in effect prior to the July 9, 2020 FLRA rule that reinterpreted the federal law. Returning to the previous standard is consistent with the intent of Congress and the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute. 

See how your Representative voted on defeating the amendment to block the OPM rule and the amendment to block the FLRA rule.

Read IFPTE’s letter to Representatives and IFPTE’s letter to House Rules Committee asking Members to vote against these amendments.