In my two most recent columns for The Utility Worker, I wrote about Project 2025 — first, raising concerns about how a second Trump term might pursue its objectives, and second, examining President Trump’s initial executive orders and their connection to the plan. Both columns received strong — but varied — responses. Some members expressed concern about the direction Project 2025 is taking us, while others argued that neither candidate Trump nor President Trump is directly involved with it.
Project 2025 is a 900-plus-page document developed by the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank that has influenced Republican presidential policy since the 1980s. It outlines how a second Trump term could fundamentally reshape the federal government, primarily through executive orders.
Although candidate Trump claimed, “I know nothing about Project 2025” and “I have no idea who is behind it”, at least 140 members of President Trump’s first administration worked on crafting Project 2025, and so far, nearly 50 of its authors have been nominated, designated, appointed or confirmed to positions in his second administration.
In all, Project 2025 includes 313 objectives across 34 agencies. A CNN analysis of the 53 executive orders and actions from President Trump’s first week in office found that more than two-thirds, 36, include proposals outlined in Project 2025. To date, of the 313 objectives, 98, or 32%, have been implemented.
Although executive orders have addressed nearly a third of Project 2025’s objectives, the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has acted as an attack dog on 34 targeted governmental agencies, wreaking havoc on both the agencies and their workers. DOGE has been involved in the indiscriminate firing of nearly 25,000 probationary governmental employees. Many of these employees had 20-plus years of service and were only considered ‘probationary’ in their current classification. This would be like you taking a promotion and then being let go because you had only held the position for a short period of time, while others with less service maintained their jobs. DOGE has also cut programs and canceled grants, again indiscriminately, impacting various agencies and hindering their ability to carry out their missions.
While we could debate many of the Project 2025 objectives and actions that have been completed, are in progress, or have yet to be addressed, as a labor union, our focus should remain on the issues that directly affect labor and our members. Project 2025 outlines 18 specific objectives for the Department of Labor. Of those, three have been completed and three are currently in progress.
The first was rescinding Executive Order 11246 — Equal Opportunity Employment (Project 2025, page 584). This action rescinded the decades-old order that had required federal contractors and subcontractors to engage in affirmative action to prevent employment discrimination.
The second was the firing and appointment of a new NLRB general counsel (Project 2025, page 615). In January 2025, President Trump fired NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo and NLRB Board Member Gwynne Wilcox. The Abruzzo firing was expected as the President has the right to remove the General Counsel without reason. Wilcox’s firing was unexpected, unprecedented and in violation of the plain words of the National Labor Relations Act.
The third was a return to a Trump-era overtime exemption threshold (Project 2025, page 592). This E.O. makes it harder for salaried workers to earn overtime pay after 40 hours in a work week.
This leaves 15 DOL-related Project 2025 objectives either in progress or not yet started. These include:
- Lessen child labor regulations to allow “teenage workers” to work “inherently dangerous jobs” (page 595);
- Undermine union protection by allowing employer “councils” and favoring right-to-work laws (page 599);
- Roll back the definition of “protected concerted activity” that protects employees from retaliation for union activity (page 601);
- Rescind the “persuader rule” that required employers to disclose when they had hired union-busting consultants (page 602);
- Discard “card check” as the basis of union recognition and mandate that secret ballot be exclusively used (page 603); and
- Eliminate the “contract bar rule” that prevents employers from union busting and decertifying a union mid-contract (page 603).
Like it or not, the current Trump administration is actively following the roadmap laid out by Project 2025. If you voted for President Trump, it’s entirely possible that you were unaware of, or do not support, the specific policies outlined in this plan. Rather than denying that these actions are taking place, I encourage you to acknowledge that this may not be what you voted for — and to speak up. On the other hand, if you support the administration’s actions as they relate to Project 2025, it’s equally important to engage in honest dialogue about those views — especially given the serious implications these policies will have for our union and its members.