What a Harris-Walz administration would mean for federal workers

Editor’s note: In the final days before Election Day, here’s a look at where both candidates — and their vice presidents — stand on these issues. Here is what a Trump-Vance administration would mean for federal workers.

Vice President Kamala Harris has defined her own campaign in recent months, separate from President Joe Biden’s messaging.

But when it comes to the federal workforce, Harris relies on a review of the leadership positions she held under the Biden administration. Here’s a closer look at her stance on federal personnel issues:

Federal employees, unions

During a campaign stop in September, Harris said she would eliminate college degree requirements for some federal jobs if elected. The Biden administration has advocated skills-based hiring in some areas, especially in technical positions.

“As president, I will eliminate unnecessary degree requirements for federal jobs to create more jobs for people without a four-year degree,” Harris said in a speech. speech in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

The White House announced in April 2024 that it would no longer rely on college degrees for approximately 100,000 federal IT jobs across the federal government.

As vice president, Harris chaired the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment. Biden created the task force in April 2021 executive order seek to strengthen collective bargaining rights for federal employees.

The task force made 70 recommendations to improve labor-management relations for the federal workforce.

At the time the task force issued its initial recommendations, more than 300,000 federal employees eligible to join a union were not actually union members.

Among its recommendations, the task force said the Office of Personnel Management should remove unnecessary barriers in federal workplaces that hinder unions’ ability to organize workers and increase membership.

In accordance with the task force recommendations, OPM in October 2021 new guidelines issued urging agencies to inform potential employees, new hires, and current federal employees of their collective bargaining rights and details about the unions in their organizations.

At an event at the White House, Harris said the administration aimed to break down barriers to organizing within the federal government and ultimately hoped to become “the most pro-union administration in the history of America.”

“We know this effort will impact many people,” she said. “But we also know that by example we can hopefully encourage all workplaces and all sectors to look at what is in the best interest of productivity, in the best interest of morale and, of course, in the best interest of valuing the dignity of work. .”

The task force wants to position the federal government as a model employer.

“We are going to look in the mirror, as the government above this federal government, and look at the condition and well-being of federal employees,” Harris said at a task force meeting on March 10, 2023. “We have done the work to educate the federal workforce, and by extension their family members and the public at large, about the benefits of union membership.”

Biden approved all 70 of the task force’s recommendations by February 2022. Since then, agencies have made significant progress in implementing the changes, according to the task force, leading to an influx of union membership.

As vice president, Harris also cast the deciding vote in the Senate confirm Kiran Ahujathe Biden administration’s first permanent choice to lead OPM. Ahuja stepped down as director of OPM in April 2024.

Recommendations

The American Federation of Government Employees and the National Treasury Employees Union both endorsed Harris.

said AFGE his approval that as a senator, Harris stood “shoulder to shoulder” with the union to secure essential personal protective equipment and sick leave for federal workers at the height of the pandemic, voted to prevent government shutdowns and defended workforces in collective bargaining around the world the federal government.

NTEU National Chairman Dorren Greenwald said Harris has been a “strong advocate for the issues that matter most to federal employees” – including fair pay, paid family leave, adequate agency funding and staffing, and robust collective bargaining rights

“Kamala Harris has a long career in the public sector, which has given her a keen insight into how the skilled public servants who carry out the day-to-day work of government are vital to our democracy,” Greenwald said. “She is a strong voice for workers and their unions, recognizing that taxpayers are better served when the federal workforce is organized and empowered to help agencies fulfill their important public service mission.”

The National Federation of Federal Employees wrote on her website earlier this month that “Harris will continue Biden’s legacy as a pro-union president.”

Unions representing Postal Service employees have also endorsed Harris. These include the National Association of Letter Carriers, the American Postal Workers Union and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union.

The National Rural Letter Carriers Union does not endorse presidential candidates.

Artificial intelligence

Harris also played a leading role in the Biden administration’s efforts to accelerate the use of AI tools in government, while also introducing policies that would prevent agencies from misusing these emerging tools.

The Office of Management and Budget in March 2024 released its first government-wide policy on how agencies should mitigate the risks of AI while reaping its benefits.

Harris told reporters on a call that OMB’s guidelines set several “binding requirements to promote the safe, secure, and responsible use of AI by our federal government.”

“When government agencies use AI tools, we will now require them to verify that those tools do not endanger the rights and security of the American people,” Harris said.

“If the Veterans Administration wants to use AI in VA hospitals to help doctors diagnose patients, they must first demonstrate that AI does not produce racially biased diagnoses,” she added.

Walz on VA issues

Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, previously served as the ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. In this leadership role, Walz addressed several issues that the VA continues to address.

As the top Democrat on the committee, Walz supported the VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017. The legislation allowed the VA to expedite the firing of employees for alleged misconduct or poor performance.

“For too long, VA secretaries have not had the tools they need to hold underperforming employees accountable; this bipartisan legislation will ultimately change that,” Walz said said in a statement in June 2017: after President Donald Trump signed the bill into law.

However, the Trump administration failed to negotiate with AFGE to implement the 2017 law, violating the terms of its contract with the union. The VA defended its position in court between 2017 and 2023, but federal courts and arbitrators repeatedly ordered the VA to rehire employees it fired under the legislation.

Under the Biden administration, the VA reached a settlement with AFGE in July 2023. The department agreed to compensate former employees fired under the 2017 law or reinstate former employees fired for minor offenses.

Under the Biden administration, VA leaders decided that starting in April 2024, the department would no longer use the authorities in the 2017 legislation to expedite employee layoffs.

As the House deliberated on the 2017 bill, Walz said he would not have supported the bill if he thought it would take away the rights of federal employees.

“It’s true that we need accountability,” Walz said said in June 2017. ‘That’s not a code word for anything. That’s not a code word to fire everyone. That’s not a code word for breaking a union. It should also not be a code word to pretend that everything is going well there and everything is working well.”

While on the committee, Walz also pushed the VA for accountability when the Veterans Crisis Line (VCL), the 1-800 suicide crisis hotline, was unable to field and properly manage incoming calls from veterans needing assistance.

“This is the one area where we strive for perfection,” Walz said in April 2017. “Each of these calls is life and death. Each of these interventions is life or death, and if we look at it even slightly differently, we will certainly fail.”