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Culture War Roundup for the week of April 7, 2025

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In the spirit of 'what American culture war development aren't we talking about because of the Trump tariffs,' might I offer...

Trump Goes After the (Largely Democratic) Federal Government Labor Unions

On 27 March, Trump signed an executive order titled the "EXCLUSIONS FROM FEDERAL LABOR-MANAGEMENT RELATIONS PROGRAMS." That is pretty vague, and I wouldn't blame anyone who doesn't recognize what it says inside either.

The (very) short version is that this executive order formally determines various executive agencies "to have as a primary function intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work." This is the criteria that allows an exception to normal public sector union formation rights and so on. (You don't want the military or CIA to form a union in case it decides to strike, after all.) That might make sense in principle. What may raise eyebrows are some of the additions.

Newly added agencies determined to have a 'primary function' as national security work or otherwise, include-

  • 1-401. The Department of State.
  • 1-403. The Department of the Treasury, except the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
  • 1-405. The Department of Justice.
  • 1-412. The Environmental Protection Agency.
  • 1-415. The National Science Foundation. *etc.

...and you hopefully get the gist. A number of not-usually-considered-national-security departments and agencies have gotten determined to be so. Which, by the law as written, the President can do. Which means also that the public union rules and rights don't apply.

Who does this matter?

Well, for one, public sector unions political action committees (PACs) donate overwhelmingly to the democratic party. $12.5 million vs. $1.6 million in 2023-2024. That's small in absolute political money terms, but shows a significant difference in union institutional support.

But more importantly, about half of all union members in the United States are public sector union members. That's about 7 million public sector members versus 14.3 million total. Further, the ratio of unionization is completely lopsided. Only about 5% (1-in-20) of the public sector employees in the US are unionized. About 33% (1-in-3) of public sector employees are unionized. That's all public-sector unions, mind you, not just the federal government. There are only about 1 million federal public union employees, so 1-in7 of the public sector employees. That's about 14% of public sector employees, or 7% of total union employees. And not all of those will be caught in this recategorization.

Still- last week Trump put in motion a wrecking ball that seems primed to take a major chunk out of what was once a foundational pillar of the of the post-New Deal Democratic party alliance. It seems also likely to defang / weaken some potential internal resistance organizers within the Federal government, which I suspect was the more immediate motive as Trump attempts to shrink the federal work force. But as far as far as the union implications...

Well, not everyone likes public sector unions. Arch-MAGA personality Franklin Delano Roosevelt warned against public sector unions, on grounds that the government couldn't negotiate with itself. The case against public sector unions has been made for many decade. I'll let people read those takes and have their own opinions. What's more important is that these arguments are not new, but have never made significant traction... until last week.

Reactions have broadly been overwhelmed by the media coverage of last week's tariffs and other Trumpian news cycles. The right-leaning City Journal lauds the effort thought it conceeds some of the classifications are a stretch.. The left-leaning Jacobin calls on unions to make a "militant" response. Somehow, I don't think that will exactly dissuade trump, but we will see.

Will this go to court? Already has. Are plaintiff unions liable to find sympathetic judges in the DC district court, where 11 of the 15 district judges were appointed by Obama or Biden? Probably.

Will they win? I don't know.

But I think this does add another bit of evidence that Trump's chaos has some deliberate intent that often gets lost in the media chaos that follows him.

What may raise eyebrows are some of the additions.

Wait, the War Department Department of Defense isn't usually considered a national security department? If that isn't, one wonders what is.

This isn't raising eyebrows to me because a lot of this stuff seems trivially correct.

  • Obviously, agencies with the power to ban all development of certain resources critical to national security qualify
  • Obviously, agencies that are in charge of keeping the electricity and natural gas working qualify
  • Obviously, agencies with the opportunity to destroy the economy over something stupid, like the uncommon cold, qualify
  • Obviously, agencies with the authority to arbitrarily declare food-producing practices as unsafe qualify

Stuff that has more gradual bad outcomes, like the Department of Education (not listed in this order), would be more of a stretch simply because their negligence degrades the country over long periods of time, not potentially overnight.

But I think this does add another bit of evidence that Trump's chaos has some deliberate intent that often gets lost in the media chaos that follows him.

The ultimate problem with Trump II is that he's a reformer in a country that has hit the Snooze button on reform since late 2001 for some or other distraction- blowing up 10-dollar camels with 2 million dollar missiles, causing 30% inflation because some people couldn't be bothered to wear masks, whatever the fuck Trump I was, and Yes We Can discover that black Presidents are just as useless as white Presidents.

I have to admit that I'm a little jealous, since European countries are actively cracking down on reform parties and jailing their members for something everyone does (they're far more progressive-traditionalist than the liberal Americans), the UK public actively prefers Two-Tier state policy, and the Canadians are too busy bitching about checks notes being offered a vote on policies that affect them to bother with reform (which would make it more likely they survive as a whole country).

he's a reformer

Really? Arguably one of the defining aspects of 'reform' in the traditional sense is it's opposition to special and entrenched interests, and a believe in a Chadwickian scientific governance. Free trade is in many ways the paradigmatic reform cause, as it stands against the special protection of a subset of society (manufacturers) in favour of the entire nation of consumers - most of the great reformers were free traders.

By contrast the whole ethic of Trump II seems to be that some of the nation deserves special status and protection (literally), and some of it (the public and service sectors) deserves punishment.

Really? Arguably one of the defining aspects of 'reform' in the traditional sense is it's opposition to special and entrenched interests...

Yes. Really.

Who are "the Swamp" if not "entrenched interests"? Much of complaints about Trump being erratic and not listening to the experts reads to me as "special and entrenched interests" frustrated by Trump's refusal to "stay bought".