A Federal judge in California issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday that blocks the Trump administration from eliminating union bargaining for nearly a million Federal government employees at 21 agencies.
U.S. District Judge James Donato in San Francisco agreed with the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and other unions that President Donald Trump’s March 27 executive order – which aims to end collective bargaining with Federal government unions for much of the civilian workforce – likely violates the law.
President Trump said his order would strip collective bargaining rights from Federal employees whose work includes aspects of national security. However, the unions argue that the majority of workers covered by the order do not perform national security work.
“A claim of national security does not, of course, automatically negate the Constitution, particularly with respect to the First Amendment,” Donato wrote, adding that the White House “expressed a clear point of view that is hostile to Federal labor unions and their First Amendment activities.”
“It condemned unions who criticized the president and expressed support only for unions who toed the line. It mandated the dissolution of long-standing collective bargaining rights and other workplace protections for Federal unions deemed oppositional to the president,” he wrote. “All of this is solid evidence of a tie between the exercise of First Amendment rights and a government sanction.”
Donato’s ruling applies to the Office of Personnel Management, Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Agency for International Development, National Science Foundation, International Trade Commission, General Services Administration, and Social Security Administration.
It also applies to the departments of State, Defense, Treasury, Veterans Affairs, Justice, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Interior, Energy, Agriculture, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, and Education.
Along with AFGE, the lawsuit was filed by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), National Association of Government Employees (NAGE-SEIU), National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE-IAM), National Nurses United (NNU), and Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
“President Trump revoked our members’ union rights in retaliation for our advocacy on behalf of Federal workers and the American people, and we are grateful that Judge Donato saw through his disingenuous ‘national security’ justification and has ordered the immediate restoration of their rights,” said AFGE National President Everett Kelley.
“This is justice for the Federal workers who were unfairly retaliated against and had their freedom to collectively bargain ripped away for standing up to illegal executive actions,” added AFSCME President Lee Saunders.
Donato’s ruling follows a similar decision handed down in April by Judge Paul Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Friedman also blocked Trump’s executive order, saying that the order was not based on national security, but “a desire to make Federal employees easier to fire and to weaken Federal sector unions.”