Apart from losing their jobs, federal workers are faced with another challenge—the apparent loss of collective bargaining and union rights for federal employees. An executive order was signed last week by the President to restrict collective bargaining among workers in various government agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the departments of State, Defense, Justice, and Health and Human Services.
Federal employees already enjoy far fewer bargaining rights compared to unions in other industries, and this handful of allowances is now expected to be snipped away entirely under the cover of national security. The order has been seen as a crackdown on the liberties of the workers and their right to improve the conditions under which they serve the citizens of the country.
Workers represented by the federal union NTEU are filing a lawsuit against the government for attempting to “silence the voices of our nation’s public servants.” The Government workers’ contract rights are now a matter of the highest priority for these unions as many of them vow to fight the executive order.
A new executive order is placing restrictions on union rights for federal employees, and multiple unions are now standing up to fight the rollbacks. Collective bargaining for federal workers is an important topic right now. (Image: Pexels)
Are Union Rights for Federal Employees Under Threat?
The U.S. government is currently undergoing one of the biggest shakeups in its long history of overseeing the well-being of the country. The DOGE-powered cuts have been at the center of many conversations, sparking a wave of approval from some and fear for many.
The cuts are targeted at eliminating redundancies in the government and slashing the numbers to cut expenses in each department at every level of the federal government. These cuts have left federal workers scrambling for new jobs on a massive scale, but the problems don’t end there.
A new executive order has now withdrawn collective bargaining rights from federal workers, and over 1 million workers could be affected by this new ruling. According to the White House, the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (CSRA) gives the president the right to restrict collective bargaining for federal workers and agencies that have a mission of national security.
The act was primarily used for restrictions on security agencies like the FBI and CIA, but it is now being used to curb a wider net of departments with associated roles.
Who Will Be Affected by the Federal Union Rights Rollback?
Union rights are not being restricted for all federal employees. The federal union rights rollback is set to affect agencies that have been determined to have “as a primary function, intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work.” The federal union executive order will see those determined to be in these agencies lose access to collective bargaining rights.
The fact sheet released by the government identified multiple agencies with national security missions categorized under national defense, border security, foreign security, foreign relations, energy security, cybersecurity, economic defense, public safety, and pandemic preparedness, prevention, and response.
The long list of agencies includes departments such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Office of the General Counsel (OGC), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Interestingly, law enforcement workers will be unaffected by the rollback of federal union rights.
Why Are the Collective Bargaining Rights of Federal Workers Being Restricted?
Union rights for federal employees are being restricted in favor of safeguarding American interests by ensuring that agencies that are vital to national security cannot cause delays in executing their roles. The White House states that it is unwilling to tolerate mass obstruction that will jeopardize the President’s ability to manage them for national security missions.
The executive order on federal unions also explains that these unions have been opposed to the President’s agenda since the early days of his presidency and have widely filed grievances to block his orders. Federal employees and their bargaining rights have been seen as a threat to the efficacy of the government and are being restricted as a result.
Federal Worker Union Battle: Demanding Collective Bargaining for Federal Workers
Unsurprisingly, union rights for federal employees appear to be a non-negotiable condition for many organizations, and many have come out to state that they will be opposing the order. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) has stated that it will challenge the administration for “illegally attempting to strip over one million federal workers of collective bargaining rights and rip up union contracts.”
Similarly, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Doreen Greenwald stated that the executive order on federal employees’ bargaining rights was a “continuation of the administration’s efforts to deny the American people the vital services that these talented civil servants provide by making it easier to fire them without any pushback from their union advocates.” The union filed a lawsuit against the administration on March 31.
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler referred to the executive order on the restriction of union rights for federal employees as the “definition of union-busting,” and AFSCME President Lee Saunders referred to it as an attack meant to silence the voices of the federal workers.
Multiple agencies, even those unaffected by the order, such as the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), American Postal Workers Union (APWU), Economic Policy Institute (EPI), and American Federation of Musicians (AFM), have condemned the dissolution of collective bargaining for federal workers.
What Will the Exclusions from Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs Mean for Federal Workers?
With the announcement of the restriction of union rights for federal employees, the agencies will lose the ability to bargain for their rights. Unlike other unions that enjoyed more freedoms, the collective bargaining rights for federal workers were already limited.
Federal unions cannot negotiate over pay, benefits, or decisions related to hiring or firing. They also cannot go on strike, as doing so could result in their termination. These workers only had room to bargain over the conditions of their employment. For example, the federal worker union battle was being fought on the matter of return-to-office mandates that were being enforced on them.
AFGE states that allowing unions to form and negotiate their interests improves the performance of these departments and that eliminating this freedom will open “the door to abuse,” especially for veterans and whistleblowers, putting them at risk of retaliation.
The Federal Workers’ Union Battle Continues
The AFGE is participating in a rally organized by the grassroots group Indivisible, in Washington, D.C. on April 5 to demand the restoration of unions’ rights for federal employees. How the call for action will take shape remains to be seen. It does not appear that the government will restore collective bargaining rights for the federal workers who have been affected.
Last year, we saw many successful union drives and strikes within private organizations, but in 2025, it appears that the government workers’ union rights are also going to be contested. The federal union rights rollback has generated a lot of conversation about the changing regulations surrounding work and how they will shape the future of unions across the country.
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