BURSTThe Trump administration is turning to a one-judge district in Texas to assert that its move stripping bargaining rights from federal employees is legal.
President Trump late Thursday signed an executive order seeking to end bargaining rights for a wide range of agencies with national security ties — a group of 18 departments as well as additional agencies.
While unions have vowed to sue, the Trump administration made the first move, seeking a declaratory judgment from a Waco court that the White House has “the power to rescind or repudiate” collecting bargaining agreements (CBAs) across numerous agencies.
“Plaintiffs wish to rescind or repudiate those CBAs, including so they can protect national security by developing personnel policies that otherwise would be precluded or hindered by the CBAs. But to ensure legal certainty and avoid unnecessary labor strife, they first seek declaratory relief to confirm that they are legally entitled to proceed with doing so,” the suit says.
In a fact sheet accompanying the order, the White House said allowing government workers to unionize “enables hostile Federal unions to obstruct agency management.”
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 departments of Homeland Security, Defense, State and Veterans Affairs, the order also covers the Treasury Department, all agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation, the General Services Administration and many more.
The civil service law that allows for collective bargaining does have exceptions for national security agencies.
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) did not respond to request for comment but indicated Thursday in a letter to members that it plans to sue, condemning the action as “illegally strip[ping] collective bargaining rights from hundreds of thousands of federal workers.”
“Let’s be clear. National security is not the reason for this action. This is retaliation because our union is standing up for AFGE members—and a warning to every union: fall in line, or else,” the email said.
“AFGE is not going anywhere. We are fighting back. We are preparing legal action.”
An Office of Personnel Management memo that accompanied Trump’s executive order encouraged agencies to terminate any already-signed collective bargaining agreements and stop participating in any grievance proceedings.
The filing is a somewhat unusual move for the Trump administration, which has in other cases has aggressively fought lawsuits and appealed rulings in cases launched against them but has seldom initiated such a request before being taken to court.
The case is sure to come before U.S. District Court Judge Alan Albright, who oversees all cases filed in that district.
If unions sue and score favorable rulings in other districts, a judgment in Texas could help speed review by the Supreme Court.