Keith’s note: A slight bit of maybe not good – but somewhat less bad news: on 27 March OPM issued Guidance on Executive Order Exclusions from Federal Labor-Management Programs. “This order invoked the President’s authority under 5 U.S.C § 7103(b)(1) and 22 U.S.C. § 4103(b) to exempt agencies and agency subdivisions from the provisions of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute and the Foreign Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (individually and collectively, the FSLMRS). The President’s Executive Order directs that the FSLMRS will no longer apply to the following agencies and agency subdivisions (collectively, the “covered agencies and subdivisions”): — With a long list agencies BUT NOT NASA. No mention of NIST or NOAA either but NSF is listed. I have no idea what these omissions mean. But for now …

Keith’s note: whatever legal restraint might have been imposed on the Trump Administration’s mass firing spree has evaporated. Let the firings commence.

• Judge rejects unions’ request to pause Trump administration firings, Washington Post: “U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, ruled against the National Treasury Employees Union and four other labor organizations that requested a temporary halt to the mass firings. More than half a million federal workers could lose their jobs through the Trump administration’s firings and a separate program of deferred resignations, or buyouts, the unions said in legal filings.”
• Lawsuit

Keith’s note: some good news out of NASA JSC, NASA GSFC, and NASA MSFC. Sources report that probationary employees at these centers have been exempted from being fired. I also heard that ARC was going to fire up to 50 employees. Unsure of how many people this good news covers – but every job saved is of value to NASA and to the employee’s family.

Keith’s note: This document was being distributed on Monday, 3 February 2025. Full text below

Keith’s note: Looks like Acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro has totally bought into this. Her words. Update: In all fairness this is the OPM memo that Team Trump sent to all agencies with a template wording for memos, etc. That said, Janet Petro agreed to be NASA Acting Administrator so she had to send it out – but she sent it out under her name without explaining that she was told to do so. As such, minus any explanation, it is her words unless she clarifies things. PAO has not provided any information on this memo. So it is what it is.