At Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump declared war on remote work.
He’s vowing to dismiss federal employees who won’t return to the office.
President Trump hinted at legal action to overturn Biden’s telework deal that’s meant to last until 2029.
Tesla’s Elon Musk chimed in, calling remote work unfair compared to factory or service jobs.
Seems like the era of pajama meetings in government might be coming to an end.
President-elect Donald Trump said federal workers who don't want to work in the office will be fired, despite a union deal to allow federal workers to continue to telework into 2029. https://t.co/HIAhouEi77
— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 17, 2024
Federal government agencies are using, on average, just 12% of the space in their DC headquarters. The Department of Agriculture, with space for more than 7,400 people, averaged 456 workers each day (6% occupancy).
Why are American taxpayer dollars being spent to maintain empty… pic.twitter.com/qqhlqb3gRT
— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) November 21, 2024
The Washington Times reports:
President-elect Donald Trump on Monday vowed to fire federal employees who don’t come back into the office, threatening to file a lawsuit challenging a Biden administration labor contract that cemented remote work benefits for thousands of government workers.
“If people don’t come back to work, come back into the office, they’re going to be dismissed,” Mr. Trump said at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida.
“And somebody in the Biden administration even gave a five-year waiver of that so that for five years, people don’t have to come back into the office,” he said. “It’s ridiculous. So it’s’ like a gift to the union.”
Mr. Trump was referring to a remote work provision included in a contract negotiation between the Social Security Administration and 42,000 workers represented by the American Federation of Government Employees.
The team over at DOGE have called this out:
Most federal workers don’t physically show up, yet the cost of maintaining & providing energy for govt office buildings is $15BN/year (not counting billions more spent on office furnishings). The government owns 7,967 vacant buildings. This is nuts. Sounds like a job for DOGE.
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) November 23, 2024
Elon Musk mentions that near 1% of government workers actually show up!
If you exclude security guards & maintenance personnel, the number of government workers who show up in person and do 40 hours of work a week is closer to 1%!
Almost no one. https://t.co/4IGzbLqP3R
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 5, 2024
Musk then pointed out that empty buildings taking up space, that should be filled with workers, is a worldwide problem.
Literally thousands of empty buildings, not just in America, but around the world, paid for with your tax dollars!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 5, 2024
🚨 TRUMP SLAMS BIDEN’S REMOTE WORK WAIVER!
Trump exposed a Biden admin waiver letting 49,000 federal employees skip the office for 5 YEARS:
“It’s ridiculous! If people don’t come back to work, they’re going to be dismissed.”
Trump vows to take this to court. DOGE… pic.twitter.com/EaiVY7ZqtV
— Axel (@AxelCharai) December 16, 2024
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