On Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order ending collective bargaining with federal unions in agencies he says are involved with national security missions. He says he has authority under the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978.
The agencies affected are as follows:
National Defense. Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and Coast Guard.
Border Security. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) leadership components, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Executive Office of Immigration Review, and the Office of Refugee Resettlement within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Foreign Relations. Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development, Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration, and U.S. International Trade Commission.
Energy Security. Department of Energy, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Environmental Protection Agency, and Department of Interior units that govern domestic energy production.
Pandemic Preparedness, Prevention, and Response. Within HHS, the Secretary’s Office, Office of General Counsel, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, Food and Drug Administration, and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. In the Department of Agriculture, the Office of General Counsel, Food Safety and Inspection Service, and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
Cybersecurity. The Office of the Chief Information Officer in each cabinet-level department, as well as DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the General Services Administration (GSA).
Economic Defense. Department of Treasury.
Public Safety. Most components of the Department of Justice as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency. However, police and firefighters are not covered.
Federal News Network, a website which covers activities of the federal government, reported that several federal agencies have filed a lawsuit against the American Federation of Government Employees seeking a declaratory judgement stating it has the power to end these collective bargaining agreements.
The Project 2025 Blueprint, the paper the Trump Administration uses to implement its agenda, argues in its paper that even President Franklin Roosevelt held that union representation in the federal government was incompatible with democracy.
The document argues, “Congress should also consider whether public sector unions are appropriate in the first place. The bipartisan consensus up until the middle of the 20th century held that these unions were not compatible with constitutional government. After more than half a century of experience with public-sector union frustrations, it is hard to avoid reaching the same conclusion.”
The Trump Administration argues in its fact sheet announcing the order that hostile federal unions are dangerous for agencies with national security responsibilities, citing the fact that agencies cannot modify policies in collective bargaining agreements until they expire, agencies cannot make most contractually permissible changes until after midterm bargaining, that unions can and do use their powers to block the implementation of federal laws, and that federal unions are widely filing grievances over President Trump’s policies; for instance, the VA unions alone have filed 70 such grievances since Trump took office.
AFGE suits have already forced agencies to reinstate 25,000 fired probationary employees after two judges ruled these firings were unlawful. They estimate, as quoted by the Federal News Network, that if the order stands, over 1 million employees, or nearly half the federal workforce, would be affected.
The American Federation of Governmental Employees accuses the Trump Administration of retaliating against the lawsuits in question and says the President’s “bullying tactics” are not just a threat to federal employees and their unions, but to every American who values freedom of speech and association. The AFGE says they are preparing legal action to block the order.
They argue the following:
—Federal unions cannot negotiate over pay, benefits, or hiring/firing decisions.
—Federal employees are prohibited by law from striking.
—Nearly one third of federal employees are veterans.
—The Civil Service Reform Act has a process in place to address workplace issues without disrupting governmental operations.
—Unions improve agency performance, reducing costly litigation.
—Removing bargaining rights opens the door to abuse and whistleblowers lose protection from retaliation.
—Presidents from both parties such as Reagan, Clinton, Bush II, and Obama, have upheld the right of federal workers to union representation.
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