Nearly half of an elite US epidemiology program known as the "disease detectives" were dismissed by the Trump administration on Friday, according to sources familiar with the matter, dealing a blow to public health efforts as fears rise over bird flu.
Many positions in federal service are banned from joining unions—most of the higher scale / subject matter expert and “white color” roles.
These were doctors and epidemiologists, and were also in a special 2 year program, so they wouldn’t have had the standard protections of competitive service, and might also have been excluded from union membership.
Worth noting that aside from some lawsuit exposure, fed unions are not allowed, by law, to strike. (Reagan terminated thousands of air traffic controllers when they struck and replaced them with scab labor as an example) And the current admin doesn’t seem to scared of laws or lawsuits at the moment. (Hopefully they’re wrong in that confidence, but who knows)
I would join a union in a heartbeat, but my position is barred from it.
The shit we’re going through to today is what happens when striking workers don’t break the scabs’ kneecaps, “legal” or not.