Unions are joining the Biden administration’s campaign to promote scientific integrity and protect scientists from political interference
Earlier this month, the union representing thousands of scientists and engineers at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed a new contract that includes protections for government workers who stand up for scientific integrity. A similar provision was included in a union contract at the US Department of Agriculture last year, and negotiators for the union representing more than 5,000 early-career scientists at the National Institutes of Health are following suit. A contract could be signed in the next several months.
These collective bargaining agreements are the latest front in an ongoing effort to shield US science agencies from political interference. The administration of US President Joe Biden, who this week bowed out of the race for November’s presidential election, has already crafted legal protections for government scientists and other workers. It is now rushing to finalize scientific-integrity policies at dozens of federal agencies.
Political meddling in science has long been a bipartisan affair, but the current movement is fuelled by fears that former president Donald Trump will regain the office. Trump’s first term as president proved disastrous for scientists at the EPA and other science agencies, and many fear that a second term would be even worse.
If Trump wins November’s election, the next question is what will happen with the US Congress. If Republicans were to retain control over the House of Representatives and seize control of the Senate, Trump would have at least two years of free rein to reshape the government to his liking.
“People should not be confident that we have the legal tools to effectively respond to abuses of power in a second Trump administration,” says Blake Emerson, an administrative-law researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles.