As it turns out, not all federal employee unions are aghast at having Donald Trump in the White House.
A press release recently issued by the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) offers high praise for the actions taken by the Trump administration to date:
As representatives of the nation’s Frontline immigration officers and agents responsible for enforcing our laws and protecting our borders, we fully support and appreciate President Trump’s swift and decisive action to keep the American people safe and allow law enforcement to do its job. We applaud the three executive orders he has issued to date, and are confident they will make America safer and more prosperous.
Morale amongst our agents and officers has increased exponentially since the signing of the orders. The men and women of ICE and Border Patrol will work tirelessly to keep criminals, terrorists, and public safety threats out of this country, which remains the number one target in the world – and President Trump’s actions now empower us to fulfill this life saving mission, and it will indeed save thousands of lives and billions of dollars.
This is not really a shock since Trump had early support from this union during his campaign.
Trump also has issued executive orders to dramatically boost hiring more federal employees in Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, something that obviously pleases the union.
Other unions have not been as pleased with Trump’s presidency. For example, AFGE’s president J. David Cox, Sr. recently said this in a press release decrying the president’s federal hiring freeze:
All Americans should be outraged that President Trump is gutting federal programs and funneling their taxpayer dollars into the hands of less-regulated private companies who answer to their corporate shareholders and not the American people.
AFGE came out early on with an endorsement for Hillary Clinton, so Trump probably isn’t going to be too quick to throw the union any bones anytime soon.
Campaign donor reports showed that federal employee unions also donated much more heavily to Democrats than Republicans in the latest election, something that can potentially backfire if their preferred candidates do not end up in office.
While the NBPC noted that morale at its agencies is quite high, that isn’t the case at some other agencies.
The Environmental Protection Agency, for instance, is reportedly being targeted for significant cuts under the Trump administration. Even before news of the potential cuts was announced, it was reported that some federal employees at EPA are still “coming to work in tears” because of Trump’s election. A report from ProPublica said this:
At EPA headquarters, the mood remains dark. A longtime career communications employee said in a phone interview Tuesday that more than a few friends were “coming to work in tears” each morning as they grappled with balancing the practical need to keep their jobs with their concerns for the issues they work on.
Regardless of where one stands on the issues, changes have been happening quickly so far under the new administration. That can be good or bad depending on one’s perspective, but it is frequently challenging to adapt.
As a federal employee, are you happy with the changes you’ve seen, or do you feel more like some of the employees at the EPA who are apparently in tears? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.