LL 1998 members in Honolulu, HI rally against the unfair “Rumsfeld Plan” to strip civil service and bargaining rights from federal defense workers.

Government Employees — 2

If the revocation of EO 12871 on February 17, 2001 wasn’t enough to set the anti-worker, anti-union tone of the Bush Administration, he went on to annul several other Clinton Executive Orders the same day. One Executive Order stripped the right of first refusal of employment to employees of successive federal contractors in public buildings. Typically low paying and unskilled, these positions were either housekeeping and/or janitorial employees. The EO was originally designed to protect these workers from being arbitrarily eliminated by continual lowball bidders.

Another Executive Order signed by President Bush that day banned the use of Project Labor Agreements on Federal contracts. This EO, among other things, was supposed to expand job opportunities, ensure efficient and on time completion of projects, promote open competition and ultimately reduce the cost of construction. Yet the real reason was to keep organized labor off of federally funded construction jobs. Project Labor Agreements (PLA) have been serving the American taxpayers for years. PLA’s have provided good wages and benefits for the people of the community where the work was to be performed. They’ve assured that the highest quality worker and workmanship would be performed on those Federal jobs. In the end, because there was a no strike clause, labor peace ensured the job would be completed on time.

Another Clinton Executive Order rescinded by the Bush administration allowed federal contractors which had been convicted of felonies to continue to do business with the government. Clinton argued that contractors that didn’t play by the rules and violated tax, labor and environmental laws would not be rewarded with rich federal contracts paid for by the American taxpayers.

Worse still, in one more Executive Order issued by President Bush, he declared that, if contractors wanted to continue to do business with the federal government, the contractor must post Beck Notices. So, it was all right for the government to do business with felons but not to do business with contractors who did not notify employees of their rights not to join unions or pay full dues.