The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) union, representing members of the TSA, holds a picket outside Norfolk International Airport in Norfolk, United States, on March 25, 2025, to protest anti-union actions by the Trump administration. Image: Zach D Roberts/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
An executive order from President Trump would cancel existing labor-management contracts and revoke bargaining and other forms of union representation for the large majority of federal employees on grounds of national security, an order that federal unions promptly said they will challenge in court.
The affected departments and agencies “are hereby determined to have as a primary function intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work. It is also hereby determined that Chapter 71 of title 5, United States Code [the section of law governing federal labor-management relations], cannot be applied to these agencies and agency subdivisions in a manner consistent with national security requirements and consideration,” it says.
The order would cover the two largest departments, DoD and VA, as well as major parts of DHS, which together employ about two-thirds of the federal workforce; they also are among the most heavily unionized, meaning their share of employees in union bargaining units is still larger. Covered DHS components are U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Coast Guard, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The AFGE union called the order “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” and said it is preparing “immediate legal action.”
The NTEU union similarly said that “We will vigorously challenge this illegal order in court. Federal employees, whose oath is to the Constitution, have called out the actions of the administration to dismantle the federal government and have fought to protect their agencies’ missions to ensure that services continue to be delivered on behalf of the American people.”
The order also affects: State; Treasury except for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing; Justice, except for parts of the U.S. Marshals Service; Energy, except for FERC; EPA; USAID; NRC; NSF; ITC; FCC; GSA; and the CIO offices of each department, the SSA and OPM.
Also: at HHS, the Office of the Secretary, the Office of the General Counsel, FDA, CDC, Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health and Office of Refugee Resettlement, Administration for Children and Families; at Interior, Office of the Secretary, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management; at Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service; and at Commerce, the International Trade Administration.
It further says that each of those agencies “shall, upon termination of the applicable collective bargaining agreement” end participation in any pending grievance or unfair labor practice complaint; and assign employees who had been eligible to official time for certain union duties on the clock “to performing solely agency business.”
The order goes well beyond prior actions the administration has taken against unions in the federal workplace, including revoking bargaining rights for TSA screeners; telling agencies that they need not enforce contract provisions regarding telework or RIFs that they consider an impingement of management rights; and canceling labor-management cooperative forums. Lawsuits are pending against most of those actions, as well.
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