President Trump recently issued an executive order (EO) that effectively cancels federal collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) across 18 federal agencies. The EO is based on the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (CSRA), which permits a president to terminate CBAs at agencies in the interests of national security. To qualify for this exemption from CBAs under the CSRA, the workers at that agency must have the "primary function" of performing intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work.
In his EO, Trump designates the targeted 18 agencies, including the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the General Services Administration, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Health and Human Services (HHS) Department, the Energy Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Federal Communications Commission. The Trump administration claims that employees in all these agencies and departments conduct work that pertains to national security.
While a president using the CSRA to end CBAs is not unprecedented, the sheer range of this EO is highly unusual. No president has tried using the CSRA to end CBAs for a Cabinet-level agency. The EO affects about three-quarters of federal workers with a collective bargaining agreement or about two-thirds of all federal workers.
The National Treasury Employees Union (NETU), which represents about 160,000 workers, immediately filed a challenge to the EO, claiming that the move violates the labor rights of federal workers and is unconstitutional. In its suit, NETU alleges that the president is construing the national security exemption under the CSRA far too broadly, as the EO would exempt most agencies and their employees. Further, NETU argues that the president is using the CSRA as a mechanism to carry out mass firings and punish unions. NETU claims that the EO would result in a $25 million annual revenue loss if it receives no further membership dues. In response, the Trump administration argued that the president is traditionally given deference in national security matters.
A U.S. District Court judge issued a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking the Trump administration from enforcing the EO against agencies and departments where NETU represents employees. In response, the Treasury Department filed a lawsuit against the NETU to invalidate the CBA in place for IRS employees.
Absent the injunction, the EO would have directly affected agency staffing. The Trump administration already has been laying off some employees as part of a larger reduction in force (RIF) at agencies such as HHS and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. When RIFs occur, the union typically has input. However, if the Trump administration could eliminate unions in these agencies, they could use RIF more broadly without pushback by unions.
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