Trump will oppose Biden’s remote work deal; The union pledges to respond

President-elect Trump He signaled Monday that he plans to undo President Biden’s move to reach a deal that would allow tens of thousands of federal workers to remain in a hybrid work arrangement with remote work through 2029.

Trump said in a press conference: “We are talking about a friendly takeover of power, a friendly transition, as they like to say, this is a friendly transition, and it really is.” “But there are two events that happened that I think are absolutely terrible.”

“The first is that if people don’t go back to work, or go back to the office, they will be fired, and someone in the Biden administration gave a waiver on that for five years. So, for five years, people don’t have to go back to the office,” Trump said. “49,000 people participated over five years. They don’t have to leave. They just happened upon this thing. It’s ridiculous. “So it was a gift to the union, and obviously we will be in court to stop it.”

Trump’s comments come after an agreement was reached earlier this month between the largest federal labor union, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), and the Federal Labor Union. Social Security Administration (SSA) Which “puts current levels of remote working in our national agreement through October 25, 2029.”

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The deal was the first Reported by Bloombergcovering approximately 42,000 Social Security employees across the country. Under the agreement, workers’ requirements to remain in offices range from two to five days a week, the outlet reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

AFGE National President Everett Kelly responded to Trump’s comments about the telework deal in a statement saying the union supports telework “as it delivers for taxpayers and the workers they serve.” Remote work and remote work They are tools that have helped the federal government increase productivity and efficiency, maintain continuity of operations, and increase disaster preparedness.

“Rumors about the spread of telecommuting at the federal level and remote work are simply not true. More than half of federal employees cannot telecommute at all due to the nature of their jobs, only 10% of federal workers telecommute, and those with a hybrid arrangement spend More than $60% of hours worked in the office, Kelly said.

“The collective bargaining agreements entered into by the federal government are binding and enforceable under the law. We are confident that the next administration will uphold its obligations to respect the statutory law.” Union contracts. “If they fail to do so, we will be prepared to enforce our rights,” Kelly added.

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It cost Trump Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leadership, which will focus on finding ways to reduce government spending and improve the efficiency of federal initiatives.

Musk and Ramaswamy have indicated they want to end remote work and view a requirement for federal employees to return to the office as a way to incentivize voluntary layoffs.

“Requiring federal employees to come into the office five days a week will lead to a wave of voluntary layoffs that we welcome: If federal employees don’t want to come in, American taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay them for the coronavirus-era privilege of staying home.” “, Musk and Ramaswamy wrote in an op-ed published in the Stay at Home magazine. The Wall Street Journal last month.

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Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, chair of the Senate DOGE Caucus, said after the deal between AFGE and SSA was announced that it was “unacceptable” and she would work with Musk, Ramaswamy and DOGE to “fix this as quickly as possible.” And get the bureaucrats back to work.”

FOX Business’ Breck Dumas and Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.