Nearly half of an elite US epidemiology program known as the "disease detectives" were dismissed by the Trump administration on Friday, according to sources familiar with the matter, dealing a blow to public health efforts as fears rise over bird flu.
Many positions in federal service are banned from joining unions—most of the higher scale / subject matter expert and “white color” roles.
These were doctors and epidemiologists, and were also in a special 2 year program, so they wouldn’t have had the standard protections of competitive service, and might also have been excluded from union membership.
Worth noting that aside from some lawsuit exposure, fed unions are not allowed, by law, to strike. (Reagan terminated thousands of air traffic controllers when they struck and replaced them with scab labor as an example) And the current admin doesn’t seem to scared of laws or lawsuits at the moment. (Hopefully they’re wrong in that confidence, but who knows)
I would join a union in a heartbeat, but my position is barred from it.
That is ridiculous isn’t it? It’s saying people can’t join a private club.
Yep, for sure. The tradeoff was supposed to be the higher protections that come with competitive service positions, but those protections are being ignored or illegally removed week by week, so yeah at this point anyone should be allowed to join the union.
But to be honest? Its looking more and more like the admin is going to break binding union agreements as well so maybe it’s all just fucked.
The shit we’re going through to today is what happens when striking workers don’t break the scabs’ kneecaps, “legal” or not.