Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) (l) talks with National Treasury Employees Union President Tony Reardon at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday. (Maureen Gilman)

Democrats have long been in the corner of federal employees, but those workers are almost absent from the 2016 Democratic platform.

This reference to the federal workforce is an indirect one to job applicants: “The next president should take executive action to ban the box for federal employers and contractors, so applicants have an opportunity to demonstrate their qualifications before being asked about their criminal records.”

Delegates approved the platform with a voice vote Monday. It included references to collective bargaining for workers generally and two mentions related to the “fundamental rights” of “teachers and other public employees.”

In contrast, the 2016 Republican platform makes a number of points about federal workers, almost all of them negative. After acknowledging “the dedication of most employ­ees of the federal government,” the GOP document complains about the compensation of the workforce, calls for the expedited firing of “bad workers,” and questions allowing federal staffers generally to unionize. Specifically, on permitting Transportation Security Administration employees to join a union, Republicans say they will “correct that mistake.”

So, just being mentioned isn’t necessarily a good thing.

“Make no mistake, the federal government’s ongoing struggle to recruit highly-qualified applicants to mission-critical positions is fueled in part by the downright hateful antigovernment rhetoric of the GOP,” said William R. Dougan, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees. “The GOP platform is cause for great concern about what the future of critical government services would look like in a Donald Trump administration.”

The fact that federal employees are not directly mentioned more often in the Democratic document doesn’t bother federal labor leaders who praise other planks in the platform. National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Tony Reardon noted it does include “key provisions that would positively impact federal workers,” including support for collective bargaining rights, 12 weeks paid parental leave and limits on contracting out government work to private companies.