President Donald Trump has signed an executive order aimed at limiting unionizing and terminating collective bargaining rights for government employees involved in national security-related work, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) said Thursday.
The executive order impacts several large federal departments as well as specialized agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), among others, according to CNN.
In total, the OPM memo references 18 federal departments, including several subsidiary agencies that will be impacted by the order.
A fact sheet from the White House explains that the move is based on the premise that the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, grants him the authority to remove collective bargaining from federal unions within agencies crucial to national security.
“The President needs a responsive and accountable civil service to protect our national security,” the fact sheet stated.
The executive order primarily targets federal unions, which the fact sheet claims have obstructed the President’s policy agenda, and “declared war on President Trump’s agenda.” It specifically highlights the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which has filed numerous grievances in an attempt to “block Trump policies.”
“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 Associated Press reported citing the fact sheet.
The OPM memo states that agencies impacted by the order no longer need to engage in collective bargaining with federal unions.
The agencies will be able to proceed with reductions in force (RIF), previously mandated by the President, without being bound by the terms of the now-terminated collective bargaining agreements. Additionally, agencies will no longer be restricted by procedural limitations on return-to-office mandates once those agreements are annulled.
The order, however, exempts certain sectors, including police officers and firefighters, who will retain their collective bargaining rights.
AFGE Condemns Executive Order
The AFGE, representing over 800,000 federal workers, condemned the executive order in a statement released Thursday evening. The union argued that the move undermines the collective bargaining rights of more than 1 million federal employees, signaling potential legal battles ahead.
“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 stated.
“AFGE is preparing immediate legal action and will fight relentlessly to protect our rights, our members, and all working Americans from these unprecedented attacks,” Kelley added.
Federal unions have long opposed Trump’s initiatives in court, with several lawsuits temporarily halting actions such as mass layoffs and restrictions on the use of sensitive data.
One notable case saw AFGE successfully blocking the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, from accessing Social Security information, a move the union claimed could violate privacy rights.
Earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security also took steps to dismantle collective bargaining agreements for transportation security officers, a move that was sharply criticized by the TSA union, which called it an “unprovoked attack.”
