Trump Administration Takes Action to END Union Rights for Federal Workers

The White House Office of Personnel Management just announced that President Trump has signed an executive order that will greatly limit the ability of many federal employees from unionizing.

It will apply to all agencies within the DHS, DOD, EPA, HHS, GSA, Treasury Department, State Department,  Department of Veterans Affairs, and several others.

Breaking: White House office moves to end union rights for federal employees https://t.co/Hydlochyf6

— John Solomon (@jsolomonReports) March 28, 2025

The Hill has more details:

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) said Thursday that President Trump signed an executive order limiting numerous agency employees from unionizing and instructing the government to stop engaging in any collective bargaining.

The OPM memo references an order from Trump that has yet to be publicly posted, but a fact sheet from the White House claims that the Civil Service Reform Act that allows government workers to unionize “enables hostile Federal unions to obstruct agency management.”

“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 order targets agencies it says have a national security mission but many of the departments don’t have a strict national security connection.

In addition to all agencies with the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense (DOD), the Department of State, and the Department of Veterans Affairs, the order also covers the Treasury Department, all agencies with Health and Human Services (HHS), the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation, the General Services Administration, and many more.

In total the OPM memo references 18 departments while also including numerous component agencies.

The OPM memo instructs agencies to terminate their collective bargaining agreement.

“Consequently, those agencies and subdivisions are no longer required to collectively bargain with Federal unions,” OPM states in its memo.

“Because the statutory authority underlying the original recognition of the relevant unions no longer applies, unions lose their status as the ‘exclusive[ly] recogni[zed]’ labor organizations for employees of the agencies.”

The OPM memo also says “agencies should cease participating in grievance procedures after terminating their CBA,” an abbreviation for collective bargaining agreements.

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President Trump’s executive order has not been published yet, at the time of writing.

However, the White House stated in a memo that the move is issued under the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act, which President Trump is also using to end collective bargaining with federal unions involved with national security.

AP added:

President Donald Trump moved Thursday to end collective bargaining with federal labor unions in agencies with national security missions across the federal government, citing authority granted him under a 1978 law.

The order, signed without public fanfare and announced late Thursday, appears to touch most of the federal government. Affected agencies include the Departments of State, Defense, Veterans Affairs, Energy, Health and Human Services, Treasury, Justice and Commerce and the part of Homeland Security responsible for border security.

Police and firefighters will continue to collectively bargain.

Trump said the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 gives him the authority to end collective bargaining with federal unions in these agencies because of their role in safeguarding national security.

The announcement builds on previous moves by the Trump administration to erode collective bargaining rights in the government.

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This is huge.

And, it’s something a lot of Americans can get behind.

Why should federal workers, funded by the taxpayer, be allowed to unionize?

It’s about time federal employees remember that they work for us.

Excellent, they work for the people — not for union lobbyists lining the pockets of politicians for favor.

— Patty Martin (@PensFan07x) March 28, 2025

About time! No more taxpayer-funded activism. Federal employees should serve the people, not union bosses pushing leftist agendas. Strip the power, drain the swamp, and put America first!

— N.L.R. (@NaturalWay_NLR) March 28, 2025

Kenneth said it well:

unions are for coal miners not bureaucrats

— Kenneth Noga (@nog14461) March 28, 2025