After several months of silence on the topic, President Donald Trump did what many federal unions thought was inevitable: He disbanded a formal advisory panel designed to create and foster partnerships between labor and agency management.
His decision to eliminate the National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations came late last Friday — just one day before the executive order that created the council was due to expire.
President Barack Obama first signed an executive order that created the council in 2009, calling on agencies to work together with federal employees and unions to improve the delivery of government services to the public. He signed executive orders extending the council for two more years in 2013 and 2015.
Unions say the administration’s decision cuts off a valuable and productive place where agencies and employees had discussed specific challenges, reviewed organizational initiatives and solved workplace issues.
