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Federal Judge Halts Trump’s Executive Order on Union Bargaining Rights

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has issued a preliminary injunction that prevents the Trump administration from enforcing a contentious executive order aimed at diminishing the collective bargaining rights of a significant portion of the federal workforce.

In March, President Trump signed an executive order utilizing a seldom-invoked clause from the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act. This action sought to exclude unions from representing employees across numerous federal agencies, including critical departments like Defense, Homeland Security, the IRS, and the Environmental Protection Agency, all justified under the pretext of national security.

Despite this directive, agencies, under the guidance of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), have not yet taken formal steps to dissolve existing union contracts. However, they have started to undermine these agreements in practice by discontinuing bargaining negotiations, halting grievance procedures, and covertly ceasing the automatic deduction of union dues from employees’ paychecks.

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman issued the preliminary injunction in response to a request from the National Treasury Employees Union, deeming the executive order, as well as the subsequent implementation guidance from OPM, to be “unlawful.” This ruling effectively bars all federal employees, excluding the President himself, from executing the measures outlined in those documents.

According to the judge, a more detailed opinion explaining the legal basis for his ruling will be made public in the coming days.

During the hearing held on Wednesday, Judge Friedman expressed skepticism regarding the President’s assertion that agencies like the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Agriculture are primarily focused on national security. Furthermore, he appeared to concur with the union’s argument that the executive order was a retaliatory measure against labor organizations that have legally contested the administration’s workforce policies.

This injunction arrives shortly before the April 26 deadline, which requires federal agencies to present recommendations for additional bargaining units that could be affected by the national security exemption as outlined in the Civil Service Reform Act.

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