In the latest salvo in its bid to control and reduce the size of the federal workforce, the Trump administration has decreed that union contract provisions permitting telework for federal employees are invalid because they conflict with management prerogatives.

The Office of Personnel Management wrote in a memo that the availability of telework and the positions eligible are a “management right” that is not subject to collective bargaining.

The missive came days before the deadline the administration set for federal workers to apply for a “buyout offer” that would provide eight months of pay and benefits. The administration has also offered early retirement to certain workers.

Labor unions and some Democratic elected officials have urged federal employees to reject the offers, saying the Trump administration cannot be trusted to make good on them and may not even have the legal authority to proffer them.

Layoffs across the federal government are likely if not enough employees take the buyout, administration officials said.

Politico, Feb. 3
USA Today, Feb. 4