For Immediate Release
Saturday, February 17, 2001
Bush Directives Assault Worker Rights
AFSCME Calls Flurry of Executive Orders Attack on Labor
Washington —The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, criticized the Bush administration today for issuing executive orders that will harm workers in construction, service, and other industries with federal contracts and impede ongoing labor-management cooperation in federal agencies.
"These anti-labor directives fly in the face of common sense and fairness," said President Gerald W. McEntee. "It's very disappointing that George W. Bush has been in office less than a month, and he's already setting back years of progress on job protections and labor-management partnerships at the federal level."
One of President Bush's executive orders prohibits federal agencies from requiring construction firms relying on federal funds or assistance for a specific project to allow workers on that project temporary representation by a union. This reinstates a similar 1992 directive issued by then-President George Bush and rescinded a year later by former President Clinton.
Another executive order removes a 1994 Clinton administration directive to federal agencies to give qualified service workers hiring preference on new jobs in public buildings when their companies lose their contract to other firms. A third revokes a Clinton order requiring federal agencies to create management partnerships with their employees.
President Bush's final executive order follows a ruling by his father that government contractors must post notices informing union members of their right to opt out of paying dues for expenditures other than union representation, as mandated under the Supreme Court's 1988 Beck ruling. Because the original order did not also require contractors to inform workers of their fundamental right to organize and bargain collectively, the Clinton administration rescinded it.
"President Bush says he wants to reach out to working people, but construction, custodial, food service, and other American workers hurt by these orders must be wondering if it's all just talk," Mr. McEntee said. "They have a right to worry about the steps backward on labor rights that this administration is taking."
