Job Security And Bargaining Rights Of Federal Government Employees

From the beginning of his administration, President George Walker Bush undertook to curtail employment rights, particularly those previously enjoyed by federal government workers. In the wake of the September 11th attacks, however, the Bush Administration was able to launch a full-scale attack on federal employment rights under the guise of national security. While the expansion of government power in the name of national security has come under substantial media and political scrutiny, much of this attention has focused on the threat posed to individual rights. Increased federal power under the USA PATRIOT Act' and other measures2 ostensibly intended to enhance capacity to identify, apprehend, and prosecute terrorists has indeed impacted civil liberties.3 However, a diminished core of civil liberties is not the only casualty.

The federal government has used September 11th as a pretext for dismantling labor rights and workers' unions as well.4