President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 27 aimed at ending collective bargaining with federal labor unions for numerous employees of government agencies with national security missions.
In addition to the agencies under those departments, the order covers all agencies with the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, the United States Agency for International Development, the United States International Trade Commission, and the General Services Administration.
Police and firefighters will continue to collectively bargain.
Ending collective bargaining with federal unions in these agencies is necessary because of their role in national security, the order states.
According to the order, it has been determined that the agencies “have as a primary function intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work.”
“President Trump is taking action to ensure that agencies vital to national security can execute their missions without delay and protect the American people,” the fact sheet states. “The President needs a responsive and accountable civil service to protect our national security.”
Allowing government workers to unionize “enables hostile Federal unions to obstruct agency management,” while certain federal unions have “declared war on President Trump’s agenda,” according to the fact sheet.
The largest federal union, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) condemned Trump’s order in a statement, adding that it is “preparing immediate legal action and will fight relentlessly to protect our rights, our members, and all working Americans from these unprecedented attacks.”
“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,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said.
“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,” the fact sheet states.
“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,” it concludes.
Agencies were also instructed to “cease participating in grievance procedures” and “swiftly” implement Trump’s return to in-person work mandate for employees after terminating collective bargaining agreements.
Additionally, the guidance noted that agencies may conduct large-scale reductions in force, as Trump has directed, without regard to provisions in terminated collective bargaining agreements.
