New legislation has been introduced to overturn two Executive Orders recently issued by President Trump. These orders severely restrict federal employee unions in several large agencies by expanding the number of agencies in which federal employees are excluded from union representation.
The Protect America’s Workforce Act (S. 2837) was introduced by Senator Mark Warner (D-VA). It would overturn these two Executive Orders to restore collective bargaining for the impacted federal employees. It has 47 co-sponsors as of the time of this writing.
The first Order, Exclusions From Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs, issued on March 27, 2025, targeted large federal agencies and significantly expanded the number of agencies excluded from union representation. Guidance issued by OPM directed agencies on how to implement the new Order throughout the government.
The following unions were excluded by this Executive Order on the basis of “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
On June 24, 2025, a federal district court issued a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the Executive Order. However, on August 1, 2025, a three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted an emergency stay of this preliminary injunction.
President Trump issued another Executive Order shortly thereafter placing additional restrictions on unions. The second Order, Further Exclusions from the Federal Labor-Management Relations Program, issued on August 28, 2025, further restricted unions in agencies based on national security concerns, citing the need for swift policy implementation. The additionally excluded agencies include:
- Department of the Interior
- Bureau of Reclamation: Units with primary responsibility for operating, managing, or maintaining hydropower facilities.
- Department of Commerce
- International Trade Administration
- Office of the Commissioner for Patents and subordinate units within the Patent and Trademark Office
- National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service
- National Weather Service
- Independent Agencies
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
- United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM)
The text of the legislation as currently written states that the two Executive Orders “shall have no force or effect, and no Federal funds may be obligated or expended to carry out either such Executive order.”
The legislation would reinstate applicable collective bargaining agreements as well:
Any collective bargaining agreement in effect as of March 26, 2025, between any agency in the executive branch of the Federal Government and any labor organization that is an exclusive representative of Federal employees shall have full force and effect through the stated term of the applicable agreement.
Warner said in a statement, “From the gutting of essential government agencies to the politicization of nonpartisan government jobs, there’s never been a tougher time to be a federal worker. As the Trump administration continues to terrorize the federal workforce, I’m proud to introduce legislation to safeguard the longstanding protections that federal employees need right now.”
Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA), one of the bill’s co-sponsors, said, “Eliminating these basic labor protections is a thinly veiled retribution campaign under the guise of national security, but these orders make us all less safe by undermining the workforce Americans rely on for vaccine research, food inspections, natural disaster relief, and so much more. Our bill reverses these callous attacks to protect the fundamental workplace rights of federal employees in California and across the country so they can continue serving the American people.”
AFGE, one of the unions that sued the Trump administration over the Executive Orders, said in a statement issued by the union’s National President Everett Kelley:
President Trump’s March executive order stripping most of the federal workforce of collective bargaining rights represents the single most aggressive action taken by the federal government against organized labor in U.S. history, dwarfing any previous action against public or private sector working Americans. AFGE members are grateful to Sen. Warner for introducing the Protect America’s Workforce Act and standing up for the nonpartisan civil service, the women and men who serve in it, and the critical role that collective bargaining has played for decades in fostering a safe, productive, and collaborative workplace that serves the American people.
A White House fact sheet published along with the March Executive Order explains the administration’s rationale:
The CSRA enables hostile Federal unions to obstruct agency management. This is dangerous in agencies with national security responsibilities:
- Agencies cannot modify policies in collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) until they expire.
- The outgoing Biden Administration renegotiated many agencies’ CBAs to last through President Trump’s second term.
- Agencies cannot make most contractually permissible changes until after finishing “midterm” union bargaining.
- For example, the FLRA ruled that ICE could not modify cybersecurity policies without giving its union an opportunity to negotiate, and then completing midterm bargaining.
- Unions used these powers to block the implementation of the VA Accountability Act; the Biden Administration had to offer reinstatement and backpay to over 4,000 unionized employees that the VA had removed for poor performance or misconduct.
The National Right to Work Foundation, an organization whose “mission is to eliminate coercive union power and compulsory unionism abuses through strategic litigation, public information, and education programs,” weighed in on the matter when it filed an amicus brief with the DC Circuit Court of Appeals in support of the Trump administration’s position.
The group’s President Mark Mix said in a statement:
The DC Circuit Court should not let union bosses commandeer the levers of the executive branch in violation of both the Constitution and longstanding federal law. However, Trump’s executive order should be the first step toward eliminating union bosses’ monopoly bargaining privileges throughout the whole federal government. Such power gives unelected union bosses control over the services that American citizens fund with their taxes and elect representatives to oversee. It also forces federal employees – many of whom have never even voted for the union in their workplace – to accept workplace ‘representation’ from union bosses that they may bitterly disagree with.
Given the current makeup of Congress, the chances of the legislation advancing or becoming law are slim, but it conveys the sentiment of lawmakers behind the bill and shows a sharp contrast in the opposing philosophical approaches towards labor relations in government.
The situation is likely to continue to be fought in the courts. It could wind up reaching the Supreme Court, a process that could take months or over a year.
