'Unlawful': Judge halts Trump executive order in major win for federal workers

25 April

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump attends a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 10, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo

Collective bargaining rights for employees at several government agencies is protected, for now.

United States District Judge Paul Friedman — an appointee of former President Bill Clinton — issued a two-page order temporarily blocking the Trump administration’s executive order rescinding collective bargaining rights for government union members. The order covers employees at the departments of Justice, Energy, Health and Human Services, Treasury, the Office of Personnel Management and other agencies.

“Section 2 of the Executive Order, Exclusions from Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs … is unlawful as applied to the defendants who are heads of agencies with employees represented by the plaintiff,” Friedman wrote, while also declaring the anti-union Office of Personnel Management’s Guidance on Executive Order Exclusions from Federal Labor-Management Programs unlawfully applied.

Additionally, Politico reports, the order requires federal agencies to re-engage with their employees’ unions and to allow unions to resume collecting union dues, among other normal employee relations business.

Trump issued an executive order last month rescinding the decades-long rights of most public employees to join unions for collective bargaining over their employment terms. The president also seeks to terminate unions’ existing contracts with government employers.

Similar to Trump’s executive order asserting the government’s right to deport and incarcerate Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia in El Salvador, the administration is relying on an obscure wartime provision to dissolve unions. This one allegedly authorizes the president to exclude agencies from long-standing unionization rights if he determines those agencies to be primarily engaged in national security work.

The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents nearly 160,000 federal government employees, sued the administration, arguing Trump exceeded his powers under collective bargaining laws. The NTEU also argued Trump issued the order as retaliation for the union’s efforts to block the administration’s effort to downsize government.

Friedman promised to issue a more detailed opinion over the next few days explaining his Friday order. He has given attorneys on both sides until May 2 to submit a proposal for how the case should proceed.

See the full Politico report at this link.

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