The Justice Department announced that it has sued affiliates of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) in order to release eight federal agencies from their collective bargaining agreements with the union.
President Trump issued an Executive Order last week that excludes numerous federal agencies from union representation. The Order reflects the President’s determination that several federal agencies and subdivisions perform investigative and national security work and that those agencies may not be required to collectively bargain for national security reasons. The lawsuit was filed the same day the Order was issued in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.
The lawsuit seeks to release these eight agencies from their collective bargaining agreements with locals, councils, and Division 10 of AFGE on the grounds that the collective bargaining agreements prevent the agencies from implementing workforce policies that would help them further their national security missions:
- Department of Defense
- Department of Agriculture
- Environmental Protection Agency
- Department of Homeland Security
- Department of Housing and Urban Development
- Department of Justice
- Social Security Administration
- Department of Veterans Affairs
Underscoring this threat to national security, this lawsuit argues that “the President and his senior Executive Branch officials cannot afford to be obstructed by CBAs that micromanage oversight of the federal workforce and impede performance accountability.”
The lawsuit also argues that the President “cannot effectively execute the laws or promote national security if his supervision of agents engaged in national security, intelligence, counterintelligence, or investigative missions is stymied by intrusive bargaining agreements and continuous bargaining obligations.”
The union will be filing its own lawsuits in response to the president’s Executive Order. AFGE said in a statement 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.”
It is a legal battle that is likely to end up before the Supreme Court.
Which Agencies Are Excluded from Union Representation by the Executive Order?
The recent Executive Order states that the following federal agencies will be excluded from being covered by the federal labor relations statute because they “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, cannot be applied to these agencies and agency subdivisions in a manner consistent with national security requirements and considerations.”
- Department of State
- Department of Defense, except for any subdivisions excluded pursuant to section 4 of the Executive Order of March 27, 2025, entitled ‘Exclusions from Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs’
- Department of the Treasury, except the Bureau of Engraving and Printing
- Department of Veterans Affairs
- Department of Justice
- International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce
- Environmental Protection Agency
- United States Agency for International Development
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission
- National Science Foundation
- United States International Trade Commission
- Federal Communications Commission
- General Services Administration
The Order also excludes major portions of the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of the Interior, Homeland Security, FEMA, most of the Department of Energy, and major portions of the Department of Agriculture.
For more details about the Executive Order, see Trump Takes Aim at Cutting Back Unions’ Involvement in Federal Government.
