United States President, Joe Biden has moved quickly to rescind four Executive Orders from the Trump era that had limited Federal worker unions’ collective bargaining power and made it easier to fire some Government employees.
Among them is the abolition of the Schedule F category which might have seen thousands of policy-making Public Servants stripped of their Public Service protections against unfair dismissal.
Mr Biden also directed the Office of Personnel Management to develop recommendations requiring Federal contractors to pay a $US15 ($A19.39) minimum hourly wage and provide paid leave to their workers.
About 20 per cent of all US workers are employed by Federal contractors.
Lawmaker, Bill Pascrell (pictured) praised the decision to eliminate Schedule F.
Mr Pascrell, a Democrat Member of the House of Representatives, led the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight in sounding the alarm of politicisation at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
He called for the then Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin and IRS Commissioner, Charles Rettig not to wreck IRS Public Service protections.
“For over 130 years, the Civil Service has been the bedrock beneath sterling governance and an engine for the growth of our nation,” Mr Pascrell said.
“The Trump regime tried to destroy the Civil Service and turn it into a servile arm of the Executive. It failed,” he said.
Mr Pascrell said it was now important for Congress to patch the holes left in the Public Service and rebuild its foundation.
“This is work especially vital at IRS so Americans can trust that our tax system is always administered equitably without political interference,” he said.
“Government works only when it serves the people, not the President or the politicians,” Mr Pascrell said.
Washington, 24 January 2021
