President Donald Trump has escalated his battle against public sector unions.
On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order eliminating collective bargaining rights for two-thirds of federal employees. The White House cited a rarely used provision of the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act, which grants the president authority to exclude certain agencies and divisions from union regulations if they are deemed incompatible with national security needs.
According to interim Office of Personnel Management Director Charles Ezell, the affected agencies will no longer be subject to collective bargaining rules under Title 5 of the U.S. Code, which governs federal employees and their agencies. Federal officials have also been directed to withdraw from ongoing union litigation.
The move is not entirely unprecedented. In 2020, Trump explored a similar measure, granting then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper the authority to remove the Pentagon from union contract rules. However, facing bipartisan resistance from Congress, Esper declined to exercise that power.
This time, the outcome could be different. Trump’s order halts union negotiations across multiple departments, including Defense, State, Veterans Affairs, Justice, and Energy, along with Interior, Agriculture, Treasury, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security. The directive also impacts agencies such as the International Trade Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, International Trade Commission, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, National Science Foundation, and General Services Administration.
The executive order affects 67% of the federal workforce and 75% of unionized employees, according to estimates by Government Executive.
Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees—the largest federal employee union—condemned the order as retaliation against unions for defending workers amid government purges.
“President Trump’s latest executive order is 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,” Kelley accused. “This administration’s bullying tactics represent a clear threat not just to federal employees and their unions, but to every American who values democracy and the freedoms of speech and association. Trump’s threat to unions and working people across America is clear: fall in line or else.”
The White House, in turn, has accused unions of obstructing its policy agenda, alleging that they have “declared war” on its reforms by using legal challenges and arbitration proceedings to slow federal bureaucracy changes.
“The president has power to change the conditions under which union representation occurs and to negotiate new contracts when existing ones expire,” said Don Kettl, former dean of the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy. “But the president cannot simply wipe away existing agreements.”
Kettl added that the logic behind the order suggests the president’s national security powers could override union agreements. “The fact sheet asserts that the Civil Service Reform Act allows unions to obstruct agency management. This is a double-barreled shotgun, aimed both at the CSRA in general and at the unions in particular.”
