On May 16th, the Federal Appeals Court ruled in favor of the Trump administration’s plan to continue depriving employees of over a dozen federal agencies of their collective bargaining rights. The decision by the Court in the District of Columbia supported the administration’s argument that the executive order was justified on national security grounds, overturning a lower court judge’s decision that had blocked the order.
The preliminary injunction issued by District Court Judge Paul Friedman on April 25th, in response to a lawsuit filed by the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), had frozen the government’s executive order regarding collective bargaining rights. The order, issued by President Donald Trump in late March, exempted more than ten federal agencies from the obligation to negotiate with employee unions. These agencies included the Department of Justice, the Department of State, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Department of Health and Human Services.
A statement from the White House regarding the executive order highlighted the agencies’ national security missions and the potential hindrance by adversarial federal unions in their management. The order aimed to ensure that critical institutions for national security could carry out their tasks without delay, emphasizing the need for a responsive and responsible workforce to protect the American people.
The union representing approximately 160,000 federal government employees at the Department of the Treasury argued that Trump’s executive order deprived federal employees of their labor rights, violating the Constitution. However, the majority of judges in the Appeals Court pointed out that the union failed to demonstrate irreparable harm, thus undermining the rationale behind Judge Friedman’s injunction.
Judges Karen Henderson and Justin Walker of the Appeals Court stated that allowing the injunction to remain in effect would obstruct President Trump from fulfilling his duty to protect national security. They emphasized that Trump properly exercised his authority to exempt agencies primarily engaged in intelligence, counterintelligence, investigation, or national security work.
In contrast, Judge J. Michelle Childs dissented, finding the government’s argument ambiguous and insufficient to warrant a stay on implementing Friedman’s ruling, as it failed to prove that the injunction could impede Trump’s ability to protect national security.
According to court documents, Trump’s executive order impacted 75% of approximately one million federal employees represented by multiple unions. The National Treasury Employees Union indicated that the order applied to about 100,000 of its members. The union contended that Trump’s executive order broadened the scope of exemptions for collective bargaining, expanding beyond federal employees engaged in national security-related work, such as certain employees of the CIA and FBI.
The Trump administration has separately filed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate existing union contracts covering thousands of employees.