Republicans Join Calls for President Trump to Rescind Anti-Collective Bargaining Order

A small group of Congressional Republicans is joining with congressional Democrats, in asking President Trump to rescind his recent executive order stripping collective bargaining rights from the majority of federal employees. 

This as federal labor organizations challenge the order in court.  

The order used a provision of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute within the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA) to exclude agencies or agency subcomponents who work on national security related issues. 

In a letter, eight congressional Republicans led by Representative Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), wrote that while they sympathize with administration efforts to streamline the government, they have concerns about broad applications of the national security clause. 

“Applying this exemption widely across agencies such as the General Services Administration, the Federal Communications Commission, the Social Security Administration, and the Department of Health and Human Services could unintentionally affect government efficiency and employee morale,” wrote the group. “We respectfully request that you reconsider these Executive Orders and restore collective bargaining rights to federal agencies where bargaining would not genuinely impair national security interests.”

Senate Democratic Caucus Letter

This comes as the entire Senate Democratic Caucus, led by Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, sent a letter to the president urging him to rescind the order.

Calling the order a “gross overreach,” the Senators wrote that, “There is no evidence that the long-standing collective bargaining agreements at these agencies have jeopardized our nation’s security in any way; to the contrary, the protection collective bargaining has provided for employees allows them to conduct their work on behalf of the American people—including blowing the whistle on fraud or abuse—without political interference.” 

Labor Groups File Suit

Meanwhile, federal labor groups are taking the fight to the courts. Among the labor groups challenging the order is the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU).  

“The Executive Order plainly punishes NTEU for its legal challenges to this administration's actions, cancelling, as relevant here, twelve of NTEU's collective bargaining relationships, including NTEU's largest and longest one at the IRS," said the NTEU lawsuit. 

A separate lawsuit was filed by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and other labor groups. 

“No one, including President Trump, ever suggested unions were a national security concern. Trump’s newest order to revoke union rights is a clear case of retaliation. But I’ve got news for him: we are not going anywhere,” said AFGE National President Everett Kelley. 

For its part, the Trump Administration maintains that the CSRA “enables hostile Federal unions to obstruct agency management” and that having a “responsive and accountable civil service” will better protect national security.