Trump moves to strip unionization rights from most federal workers
Trump issued an executive order late Thursday night relying on a rarely used provision of the federal labor laws that authorizes the president to exclude agencies from long-standing unionization rights if he determines that those agencies are primarily engaged in national security work.
The order purports to end collective bargaining with federal unions at numerous federal agencies and subdivisions, including the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Health and Human Services, Justice, State and Veterans Affairs, as well as the EPA and USAID. It also authorizes the Transportation secretary to exclude the Federal Aviation Administration and any other subdivision from labor rights.
The order would eliminate collective bargaining rights from roughly 67 percent of the entire federal workforce and for 75 percent of workers who are already in a union, according to a report by Government Executive, a publication that covers the business of government primarily for an audience of senior bureaucrats.
The anti-unionization move comes amid a series of other efforts to drastically deplete the federal workforce and bring the bureaucracy under the strict control of the White House. The Trump administration is trying to fire tens of thousands of probationary federal employees, despite initial court rulings blocking the terminations. And many agencies are implementing massive 'reductions in force.'
Federal employees' unions have been at the forefront of legal challenges to many of Trump's actions in the first two months of his term. They have filed lawsuits seeking to halt billionaire Elon Musk's government-efficiency operation from accessing sensitive federal data; to block policies making it easier to fire government officials; and to reinstate thousands of fired federal workers, among others.
One major union for federal employees pledged to swiftly challenge Trump's new executive order in court.
'President Trump's latest executive order is a disgraceful and retaliatory attack on the rights of hundreds of thousands of patriotic American civil servants — nearly one-third of whom are veterans — simply because they are members of a union that stands up to his harmful policies,' American Federation of Government Employees President Everett Kelley said in a statement. 'AFGE is preparing immediate legal action.'
Federal employees' rights to join a union and bargain collectively over their employment terms were established in the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978.
Trump's executive order, published after 10 p.m. Thursday, was accompanied by guidance from the Office of Personnel Management informing agencies that they are 'no longer required to collectively bargain with Federal unions' and to stop participating in grievance procedures — the formal complaint mechanism used by unionized workers. OPM also 'advised' agencies that they no longer have to comply with laws that require advance notice and other procedures when implementing layoffs.
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