Latest news with #AmericanForeignServiceAssociation
Epoch Times
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
Federal Judge Blocks Trump's Order to Strip Foreign Service Bargaining Rights
A federal judge has ruled to temporarily block President Donald Trump's order stripping foreign service workers of their collective bargaining rights, granting a group a request for a preliminary injunction. At issue is a March 27 executive 'President Trump supports constructive partnerships with unions who work with him; he will not tolerate mass obstruction that jeopardizes his ability to manage agencies with vital national security missions,' the White House U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman, in a Tuesday In a lawsuit brought against the administration, the American Foreign Service Association had said the order 'upended decades of stable labor-management relations in the Foreign Service.' 'Congress could not have been clearer in passing the Statute that it intended for the protections of the Statute to extend broadly to the covered departments and agencies in the foreign service,' the judge said in Tuesday's order. Related Stories 5/15/2025 5/15/2025 Further, he said that the removal of the foreign service workers' union bargaining agreements would pose an issue for those employees as the Trump administration moves to restructure the federal government and initiate layoffs. The unions have argued 'that these significant obstructions to representing its members have come at a critical moment where both the State Department and USAID have signaled—and have begun—large-scale reorganization efforts and reductions-in-force,' the judge wrote, referring to the U.S. Agency for International Development 'As to USAID, the agency has already begun to implement reductions-in-force where employees will be terminated on July 1, 2025, and September 2, 2025,' Friedman added. Secretary of State Marco Rubio 'Region-specific functions will be consolidated to increase functionality, redundant offices will be removed, and non-statutory programs that are misaligned with America's core national interests will cease to exist,' he said. Lawyers for the Trump administration argued in a filing They also claimed that the American public has an interest in making sure that agencies that have an intelligence, national security, or investigative function operate in an efficient manner. A preliminary injunction that is being sought by the plaintiffs would instead 'displace and frustrate the President's decision about how to best address issues of national security, matters on which the courts typically defer to the President's judgment,' the lawyers said. In response to those arguments, Friedman disagreed, saying that administration lawyers were 'recasting decisions related to 'the general welfare' as 'national security' determinations' without providing a legal basis for doing so. After Friedman's decision, the head of the American Foreign Service Association praised the order in a 'This ruling is a significant victory—not just for our members, but for the integrity of the Foreign Service and for the accountability and transparency of our member agencies,' said the group's president, Tom Yazdgerdi. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Clinton-appointed federal judge blocks Trump admin from pulling foreign service workers' bargaining rights
In a move that adds to an ever-growing stack of court interventions that have stymied the president's second-term agenda, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from targeting foreign service workers' collective bargaining rights amid an ongoing challenge against an executive order. The American Foreign Service Association, a labor union for foreign service workers, lodged a legal challenge after President Donald Trump issued an executive order earlier this year that, according to a White House fact sheet, aimed to "end collective bargaining with Federal unions in" various government entities "with national security missions." "Certain Federal unions have declared war on President Trump's agenda," the release asserted. "Protecting America's national security is a core constitutional duty, and President Trump refuses to let union obstruction interfere with his efforts to protect Americans and our national interests." Judge Paul L. Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia — who was nominated by then-President Bill Clinton decades ago — issued the order granting the plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction. Trump's Newest Executive Order Moves To End Collective Bargaining At Agencies Safeguarding National Security The order signed by Friedman states, in part, that Trump's executive order "is unlawful as applied to the Defendants who are heads of agencies with employees represented by the Plaintiff." Read On The Fox News App "The effect of the Executive Order was substantial: it removed collective bargaining rights from approximately two-thirds of the federal workforce," Friedman's opinion declared, echoing verbatim a sentence included in an opinion Friedman issued last month in a similar case. In that case, which was brought by the National Treasury Employees Union, Friedman also targeted Trump's executive order and granted a motion for a preliminary injunction. Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump Order Ending Collective Bargaining Rights For Most Federal Workers American Foreign Service Association President Tom Yazdgerdi called the ruling "a significant victory—not just for our members, but for the integrity of the Foreign Service and for the accountability and transparency of our member agencies," according to a press release issued by the union. "President Trump eliminated collective bargaining agreements that risk national security interests. He will always prioritize public safety for the American people," White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement the White House provided to Fox News Digital on Thursday. Judge Upholds Trump's Authority To Deport Criminal Migrants Under Alien Enemies Act Fox News Digital also reached out to the Justice Department for comment, but they did not immediately article source: Clinton-appointed federal judge blocks Trump admin from pulling foreign service workers' bargaining rights
Fox News
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Clinton-appointed federal judge blocks Trump admin from pulling foreign service workers' bargaining rights
In a move that adds to an ever-growing stack of court interventions that have stymied the president's second-term agenda, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from targeting foreign service workers' collective bargaining rights amid an ongoing challenge against an executive order. The American Foreign Service Association, a labor union for foreign service workers, lodged a legal challenge after President Donald Trump issued an executive order earlier this year that, according to a White House fact sheet, aimed to "end collective bargaining with Federal unions in" various government entities "with national security missions." "Certain Federal unions have declared war on President Trump's agenda," the release asserted. "Protecting America's national security is a core constitutional duty, and President Trump refuses to let union obstruction interfere with his efforts to protect Americans and our national interests." Judge Paul L. Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia — who was nominated by then-President Bill Clinton decades ago — issued the order granting the plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction. The order signed by Friedman states, in part, that Trump's executive order "is unlawful as applied to the Defendants who are heads of agencies with employees represented by the Plaintiff." "The effect of the Executive Order was substantial: it removed collective bargaining rights from approximately two-thirds of the federal workforce," Friedman's opinion declared, echoing verbatim a sentence included in an opinion Friedman issued last month in a similar case. In that case, which was brought by the National Treasury Employees Union, Friedman also targeted Trump's executive order and granted a motion for a preliminary injunction. American Foreign Service Association President Tom Yazdgerdi called the ruling "a significant victory—not just for our members, but for the integrity of the Foreign Service and for the accountability and transparency of our member agencies," according to a press release issued by the union. "President Trump eliminated collective bargaining agreements that risk national security interests. He will always prioritize public safety for the American people," White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement the White House provided to Fox News Digital on Thursday. Fox News Digital also reached out to the Justice Department for comment, but they did not immediately respond.
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Business Standard
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Business Standard
Judge blocks Trump's bid to end Foreign Service workers' union rights
A federal judge agreed Wednesday to temporarily block the Trump administration from stripping Foreign Service employees of their collective bargaining rights. US District Judge Paul Friedman granted a federal labour union's request for a preliminary injunction that, while its lawsuit against the government is pending, stops the Republican administration from implementing a key portion of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump. The American Foreign Service Association, which represents more than 18,000 members of the Foreign Service, sued to stop the administration over the March 27 executive order. The union said Trump's order upended decades of stable labor-management relations in the Foreign Service, removing all members at the State Department and US Agency for International Development from coverage of a law that gives them the right to organise and bargain collectively. Government lawyers said Trump determined that agencies with a primary national security focus are being hamstrung by restrictive terms of collective bargaining agreements that frustrate his ability to safeguard the interests of the American people. The democratically-elected President's determination regarding the public interest in that sphere is entitled to deference, they wrote. Plaintiffs' attorneys claim Trump issued the executive order to retaliate against labour unions and not to achieve any national security goals. Foreign Service employees have lost the ability to bargain collectively at a time when it matters the most, as the Administration continues to make significant, ongoing changes to employees' working conditions and employment, union attorneys wrote. Last month, in a separate case, the same judge temporarily blocked the administration from cancelling collective bargaining rights for hundreds of thousands of federal employees. Friedman ruled that a key part of Trump's executive order could not be enforced at roughly three dozen agencies and departments where employees are represented by the National Treasury Employees Union. The government appealed his decision. Democratic President Bill Clinton nominated Friedman to the bench in 1994. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Independent
14-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
USAID looking for lawyers to target employees who spoke to media
The U.S. Agency for International Development is in the process of hiring lawyers to carry out investigations into employees who had "unauthorized communications with the media" — like speaking to the press about their mass firings — according to a job posting. "Lawyers will be expected to conduct investigations into general employee misconduct, and more specifically violations of various federal government regulations and policies, such as, for example, rules governing unauthorized communications with the media," the hiring post reads, according to CBS News. The American Foreign Service Association, a union representing USAID employees, told the broadcaster it believes that the post is genuine. The job post says the attorneys will be tasked with defending the agency against "over 200 grievances filed by employees." A State Department spokesperson said it does not "comment on any matters related to personnel or litigation." The job posting tracks with an email that was sent to some USAID employees last week informing them that they were under "administrative inquiry" because they had "engaged with the press/media without authorization." The messages went on to threaten "disciplinary action" that includes being fired. USAID was an early target for X and Tesla CEO Elon Musk 's work as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency. Under Musk's guidance, the organization was effectively shuttered. On February 2, Musk — who has since stepped away from a public-facing role in DOGE after Tesla stocks and sales tanked — called USAID a "criminal organization" and said it was "time for it to die." President Donald Trump gave a speech later that month bragging that his administration had "effectively eliminated the U.S. Agency for International Development." As of the end of March, USAID had made clear it planned to fire the majority of the agency's employees. Their official firings are expected to occur by July1 or September 2. Randy Chester, the vice president of the American Foreign Service Association, questioned why DOGE and the Trump administration were bothering to harass former employees who were speaking out. "The posting raises the question of why? What is the agency's end game if they are successful?" he told CBS News. "What more could they do to someone who will be separating from the agency? It seems like the administration is scrambling." Chester called the Trump administration's threats "total intimidation."
