Donald Trump has been after Federal Unioin membership since his first term…
A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to rescind collective bargaining rights from employees at nearly a dozen government agencies and departments.
The order from U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman requires federal agencies to engage with their employees’ unions and to resume collecting dues payments, among other normal employee relations business. The judge’s order covers employees at the departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, Treasury, Energy, the Office of Personnel Management and other major agencies.
Trump issued an executive order last month that purports to rescind the longstanding rights of most public employees to join unions that represent them in collective bargaining over their employment terms. He also moved to end those unions’ existing contracts with the government. Trump’s executive order relied on an obscure wartime provision in the federal labor laws that authorizes the president to exempt agencies engaged in national security work.
The National Treasury Employees Union sued, arguing that Trump exceeded his powers under the collective bargaining laws. The NTEU is also arguing that Trump issued the order in retaliation for its efforts to block his moves to downsize government.
Friedman suggested during a hearing Wednesday that the administration’s moves appear targeted toward unions that have opposed his agenda.
The Trump administration has also filed its own lawsuits in Kentucky and Texas seeking to invalidate the NTEU’s contracts with various agencies…..
Update…
Largest federal employee union to shed more than half its staff amid Trump attacks
The American Federation of Government Employees is planning to lay off more than half its staff, as the largest federal employees’ union reels from President Donald Trump’s move to end collective bargaining rights for many federal workers.
AFGE, which has filed an array of lawsuits against the Trump administration, is set to shrink its own workforce to about 150 employees, down from 355 staffers, according to a union spokesperson. The layoffs, which will affect organizers, national representatives, support staff and others, could take place as early as June.
But the union, which represents more than 800,000 federal staffers, vowed to continue fighting….