If you pay attention to current politics, I’m sure you’ve heard about The Heritage Foundation’s “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise,” more commonly known as Project 2025. The plan details what actions “the next conservative President,” in this case former President Donald Trump, should take during their tenure in office. Much of this 922-page document is extremely problematic, covering governmental reform in every area possible and impacting issues such as abortion, immigration, climate and the economy.
Among the broad range of topics covered in Project 2025 are labor rights and unions. Project 2025 calls for several questionable reforms that would diminish the rights of federal workers in the United States. The authors argue that unions have historically been “incompatible” with the government, and urge the next Congress to “consider whether public-sector unions are appropriate” at all.
Project 2025 also calls for the reinstatement of two of Trump’s executive orders, which protected employers from being forced to acknowledge the grievances of their employees. The two orders were rescinded by President Joe Biden early in his presidency in 2021. Executive Order 13837, signed by Trump in 2018, encouraged federal agencies to “prevent union representatives from using official time preparing or pursuing” complaints and to stop them from “engaging in other union activity on government time.” Executive Order 13839, also signed by Trump in 2018, significantly limited what employees and unions could file grievances for. The order eliminated the right to dispute termination due to alleged poor performance, shortened performance improvement periods and limited discussions surrounding incentive pay.
The restriction of union participation and existence leaves workers subject to exploitation by their employers. Public-sector unions hold federal agencies accountable for providing fair wages, reasonable hours and safe work environments to millions of employees in the United States. Project 2025’s calls for limitations on unions prevent federal workers from fighting for these rights, ultimately giving the government complete control over whether or not these rights are upheld.
If Trump takes office in 2025, public-sector unions will be severely weakened or destroyed, and the government will take a step in the direction towards authoritarianism.
