A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from implementing one of the president’s executive orders that effectively ends collective bargaining rights for most federal employees.
The court order was issued by U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman. It temporarily halts President Trump’s March 27 Executive Order titled Exclusions from Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs from being enforced at federal agencies represented by the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), the union that filed the lawsuit against the Executive Order.
Friedman notes in his order that he plans to issue an opinion in the next few days to further explain his reasoning. The order also gave attorneys until May 2 to propose a schedule as to how the case should proceed.
NTEU sued the Trump administration on March 31. The lawsuit states:
The President’s sweeping Executive Order is inconsistent with this narrow authority. The Administration’s own issuances show that the President’s exclusions are not based on national security concerns, but instead a policy objective of making federal employees easier to fire and political animus against federal sector unions. The Executive Order is therefore unlawful and must be enjoined.
Congress granted federal employees collective bargaining rights. Congress gave the President narrow authority to exclude some agencies from the collective bargaining statute. But the President may use that authority only if the agency primarily does intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work, and only if the statute cannot be applied “in a manner consistent with national security requirements and considerations.”
NTEU National President Doreen Greenwald said in a statement:
Today’s court order is a victory for federal employees, their union rights and the American people they serve. The preliminary injunction granted at NTEU’s request means the collective bargaining rights of federal employees will remain intact and the administration’s illegal agenda to sideline the voices of federal employees and dismantle unions is blocked. NTEU will continue to use every tool available to protect federal employees and the valuable services they provide from these hostile attacks on their jobs, their agencies and their legally protected rights to organize.
Shortly after NTEU filed its lawsuit, other unions sued as well. It’s a matter that could wind up before the Supreme Court in order to be settled.
What Does President Trump’s Executive Order Do?
Trump’s Executive Order modifies an Executive Order that was issued by President Jimmy Carter. The Trump Order significantly expands the list of federal agencies that are excluded from union representation on the basis of national security. The Justice Department has already used the Executive Order as the basis to sue the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) to release eight agencies from their collective bargaining agreements.
The reasoning behind excluding the agencies from union representation is that negotiating collective bargaining agreements with the unions is an impediment that can jeopardize national security.
A fact sheet on the Executive Order published by the White House states, “The CSRA [Civil Service Reform Act] enables hostile Federal unions to obstruct agency management. This is dangerous in agencies with national security responsibilities.”
For more information, see Trump Takes Aim at Cutting Back Unions’ Involvement in Federal Government.
