Federal Insider: Federal union head, once a fierce Trump critic, now sanguine

On common ground with Trump, Cox said, AFGE will “stand firm” with the president-elect on his efforts to protect Social Security and Medicare against other Republicans who want those programs cut.

Cox isn’t nervous about long-standing Republican plans to make federal workers pay more for their retirement benefits. He pointed out that AFGE supported the election campaigns of 51 congressional Republican candidates, many of whom have large numbers of federal employee constituents.

Regarding President Obama, Cox applauded the White House for expanding benefits to the same-sex partners of federal employees and taking a strong stand against discrimination in the federal workplace. But he declined to give the president an overall grade, as Cox repeated his criticism of the three-year freeze on basic pay rates that Obama initiated.

Though Cox was a big supporter of Clinton, he also had criticism for her campaign. “I think Mr. Trump did a very good job talking about bread and butter issues …” Cox said. “Secretary Clinton did not talk as much about bread and butter issues.”

In notable contrast to his earlier criticisms of Trump, Cox said his main concern about the president-elect is his unpredictability. “He doesn’t have experience with government. Running the government is not running a private corporation,” Cox said.

What gives Cox hope for the Trump administration? “I’ve seen him stand-down the Republican Party leadership, very aggressively, on issues that are important to working people, like Social Security and Medicare and jobs. … He wants new trade agreements, which every union in this country has stood firm on, about these bad, bad trade deals.”

Cox said he’s ready to “applaud him [Trump] for doing better trade deals in favor of American workers in this country.”

Cox also has hope for the government workforce under Trump because “he’s going to realize that he’s has to have those federal employees to make his government work and work smoothly and effectively and to make him successful as president.”

Despite his earlier warnings about Trump, Cox now is the perpetual optimist, at one point declaring that he had “never seen a glass that was half empty.”

Not much later, his optimism had grown.

“My glass will always be,” he said about AFGE, “three-fourths of the way full.”

But what is he drinking?

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