WHEREAS, civil servants across the nation and overseas are working each day to build a healthy, safe, prosperous and just society; and
WHEREAS, an apolitical, professional, merit-based civil service is vital to fulfilling the vital missions of the federal and Washington, D.C., governments; and
WHEREAS, an apolitical, professional, merit-based civil service ensures fair pay, benefits and working conditions for all employees; and
WHEREAS, an apolitical, professional, merit-based civil service is the best means of preventing discrimination in hiring and disciplinary practices; and
WHEREAS, attacks on employees’ due process rights, freedom of speech, right to form and join a union, scientific objectivity, and missions have chipped away at the foundation of the merit-based civil service; and
WHEREAS, elected leaders of both parties have participated in the ongoing diminishment of the apolitical, professional, merit-based civil service; and
WHEREAS, the intensity of attacks on the civil service has increased exponentially over the past several years;
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the AFL-CIO opposes any attempt to undermine the apolitical, professional, merit-based civil service; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the AFL-CIO supports fair pay, benefits and working conditions for civil servants provided by an enduring, objective civil service system.