As Trump’s DOGE plans crackdown, Social Security union secures telework deal

Tens of thousands of Social Security Administration staffers can continue teleworking into 2029 under a recent deal signed between their union and the agency. The agreement comes as the incoming Trump administration and its newly created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, vow to require federal workers to return to the office full time in an effort to cull their numbers.

Tens of thousands of Social Security Administration staffers can continue teleworking into 2029 under a recent deal signed between their union and the agency. The agreement comes as the incoming Trump administration and its newly created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, vow to require federal workers to return to the office full time in an effort to cull their numbers. The updated contract deal locks in the current levels of telework for American Federation of Government Employees members at the agency until late October 2029, according to a letter written by Rich Couture, AFGE general committee spokesperson and head of the union’s Council 215, and viewed by CNN. The agreement was signed by SSA Commissioner Martin O’Malley just before he stepped down to run for Democratic National Committee chair. “This deal will secure not just telework for SSA employees, but will secure staffing levels through prevention of higher attrition, which in turn will secure the ability of the Agency to serve the public,” Couture wrote. Depending on their job at the Social Security Administration, AFGE members have to report to the office between two and five days a week. The union represents 42,000 workers at the agency, which employs almost 60,000 people. The Social Security Administration did not immediately return a request for comment on the agreement, which was first reported by Bloomberg News. President-elect Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, a nongovernmental initiative headed by billionaire Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, is hoping to cut the federal workforce – which would reduce federal spending – by ending employees’ ability to telecommute.