US judge blocks Trump’s elimination of union bargaining for federal workers
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Unions also argue that the vast majority of workers covered by the order do not perform national security or intelligence work.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON - A federal judge on June 24 blocked the administration of US President Donald Trump from eliminating union bargaining for hundreds of thousands of federal workers.
US District Judge James Donato in San Francisco agreed with the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and other unions that Mr Trump’s March 27 executive order exempting many federal agencies from obligations to bargain with unions was likely illegal.
Judge Donato blocked about 20 agencies from implementing Mr Trump’s order pending the outcome of the unions’ lawsuit.
Eliminating collective bargaining would allow agencies to alter working conditions and fire or discipline workers more easily, and it could prevent unions from challenging Trump administration initiatives in court.
In April, a judge in Washington blocked Mr Trump’s order from being implemented at seven agencies including the departments of Justice, Treasury, and Health and Human Services.
A federal appeals court on May 16 paused that ruling while it considers the Trump administration’s appeal.
Judge Donato’s ruling applies to those agencies and the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, State and Labour, among others.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr Trump’s executive order exempted agencies that he said “have as a primary function intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work,” from collective bargaining obligations, significantly expanding an existing exception for workers with duties implicating national security, such as certain employees of the Central Intelligence Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The order applies to the departments of Justice, State, Defence, Treasury, Veterans Affairs, and Health and Human Services, among other agencies. It affects about 75 per cent of federal workers represented by unions, according to filings in the unions’ lawsuit.
The lawsuits challenging the executive order say it was meant to punish federal worker unions that have sued over Mr Trump’s other efforts to overhaul the government, including the mass firings and layoffs of agency employees.
Unions also argue that the vast majority of workers covered by the order do not perform national security or intelligence work.
The Trump administration filed a pair of lawsuits against AFGE and another union seeking to invalidate existing bargaining agreements in light of Mr Trump’s order shortly after he issued it.
A judge in Kentucky on May 20 said the Treasury Department lacked standing to sue over a union contract covering thousands of Internal Revenue Service employees and dismissed the agency’s lawsuit.
A separate case that eight agencies filed against AFGE is pending in Texas federal court. REUTERS
