Musk’s OPM misinfo is union-busting 101
Elon’s OPM is using the same anti-worker tricks we’ve seen from bosses for decades, and that he already tried at Twitter. Here’s what workers can expect.
Federal workers at CFPB and other agencies received a suspicious message from "[email protected]" on Tuesday with the subject “Fork in the Road.” NTEU’s official advice? DO NOT REPLY!
NTEU attorneys tell us: do NOT trust any emails claiming to be from OPM. We cannot verify that they are legitimate, and they contain misleading info designed to trick you into resigning and giving up your rights. You don’t even need to waste your time reading it - the misinfo inside has no relevance to CFPB bargaining unit employees.
Union leaders recognized these emails as misinformation and dirty tricks right away. This is the same playbook that union-busting corporate consultants have been perfecting for decades – and that we’ve seen bosses use at CFPB. In 2022, CFPB sent out FUD* messages lying about the union positions on telework and our rights to bargain, to try to scare us into taking a bad deal. Elon Musk is using the same tactics now and has even sent the same exact emails before at Twitter, where at least one worker won $600,000 for his trouble.
There are reports of a political takeover at OPM that has sidelined civil servants and replaced them with Musk lackeys, including recent high school graduates. Trump and Elon are abusing OPM’s role as government HR in order to target workers with shock-and-awe disinformation campaigns in the form of memos, guidance, and official-sounding emails. These attacks are mostly illegal power grabs meant to normalize an anti-union, anti-working-class, pro-privatization agenda.
Senator Tim Kaine warned feds that the email is fake:
Kaine issued his warning on the Senate floor on Tuesday, following reports of the buyout proposal. "The President has no authority to make that offer," said Kaine. "There's no budget line item to pay people who are not showing up for work ... If you accept that offer and resign, he'll stiff you."
As the CFPB's guide to spotting frauds and scams says, "Be cautious when you hear a sales pitch urging you to act immediately before an opportunity disappears."
The good news? It’s easy to join the fight. Show the billionaires we outnumber them & we’re not falling for their attempts to bully & scare us into submission:
- Join CFPB Union now if you’re not already a member. We’re the majority and we’re on your side.
- Show your solidarity - on Wednesdays we wear red for #RedForFeds Wednesdays and use NTEU335 backgrounds and avatars in Teams
- Call your congressperson now. It only takes 20 people to get them to take action on our behalf.
More information on detecting fraud, scams, and union busting:
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.