The Biden administration took a critical step Friday in reversing the Trump administration’s repeated attacks on the federal workforce by giving agencies specific directions on rejecting directives from the former president.

In a memorandum to government agencies, Office of Personnel Management (OPM) acting director Kathleen M. McGettigan told officials how to implement President Biden’s Jan. 22 order revoking actions by President Donald Trump that undermined federal unions, facilitated firing federal employees faster and disrupted the workforce.

Her memo repeatedly tells agency officials that they “shall immediately cease,” or words to that effect, implementation of Trump’s executive orders. That includes rescinding collective bargaining provisions and regulations meant to implement his policies.

Furthermore, McGettigan told agency officials to “take a hard look” at how a particular Trump order might have “influenced bargaining-table strategy and decision making.”

Union leaders had complained that agencies weren’t moving fast enough to enforce Biden’s order.

The memo further establishes Biden’s more open and cooperative approach to labor organizations, in contrast to Trump, who successfully weakened their ability to represent federal employees, including those who are not union members.

Biden’s order “was a really important and critical first step to repairing the damage” that Trump did to the federal workforce, said one administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak publicly.

McGettigan’s memo bolsters the thrust of Biden’s approach by noting his executive order said, “Career civil servants are the backbone of the Federal workforce” and that “it is also the policy of the United States to encourage union organizing and collective bargaining…..”

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