In February, President Bush announced he is repealing four rules, issued under the Clinton administration that protect workers and boost labor-management relations. The Bush orders will bar pro-union "project labor agreements" on federally funded construction projects and will abolish systems of labor-management relations that serve hundreds of thousands of federal workers. Bush also will require government contractors to post notices telling employees they cannot be required to become union members and can object to paying the portion of agency fees not related to collective bargaining; the orders also end job retention protections that now cover employees of service contractors in federal buildings. The administration's rule changes "violate the president's own public pledges to consult widely, promote civility and ‘change the tone' in Washington," said AFL-CIO president John Sweeney.

Budget Worries

President Bush's budget package unveiled Feb. 28 calls for a slowing in government spending, while providing a broad tax cut and modest increases in education spending. The AFT supports many of the president's education proposals and will work with the administration on points of common ground. But the union is concerned that the proposed $1.6 trillion tax cut will not leave enough money to improve schools and provide essential supports for children, their families and their communities (see related story, left). Although President Bush proposed a 5.9 percent increase in the Department of Education budget, it pales in comparison to the average annual increase of 13 percent per year for education passed during the last five years of the Clinton administration. It also appears that the administration would strip school districts of much-needed and hard-won funding for emergency repairs that the union helped achieve in the 2001 appropriations bills.