As federal agencies are spending as much as possible before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20, federal employees’ unions are trying to lock in multiyear contracts that will foil the Trump administration’s plans for greater accountability and efficiency across the federal workforce.

In early December, the American Federation of Government Employees finalized a five-year contract with the Social Security Administration, preserving the right to a minimum of only two days in the office per week for its 42,000 federal employees.

Other federal employees’ unions representing workers at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior, and the Bureau of Land Management, among others, are reportedly working to finalize contracts that would preserve federal employees’ rights to report to the office a minimum of only two days per pay period.

These provisions are meant to resist Trump’s plans to require federal employees to report to the office five days a week or else be dismissed. The Trump administration will likely challenge these contract provisions.

To make matters........

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