In a big win for unions, and Kansas City workers in particular, a federal judge has issued a preliminary injuction at the request of NTEU to protext the collective bargaining rights of federal employees from an attack by President Donald Trump via executive order.
NTEU represents thousands of union workers in Kansas City, MO, including thousands at the IRS. Nearly 30,000 union members in the Kansas City-metro are employed by the federal government, a huge portion of our local economy.
Trump’s executive order, which we previously reported on, gave over a dozen federal agencies exemptions from their obligations to bargain with the unions that represent their workers. His order suggested that tens of thousands of federal union jobs are related to national security and prohibited to be union, even when these jobs are clearly unrelated to national security. This was a clear violation of these federal workers’ freedom, labor rights, and the United States Constitution.
At the same time, Trump is being challenged by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) in a lawsuit in California in federal court. AFGE represents nearly 800,000 federal union members, far more than any other union. Due to Trump’s actions, AFGE has had to fire nearly half of their union staff, making it even harder for the workers in the union to be protected.
This is just the latest in a long string of anti-worker actions taken by President Trump, J.D. Vance, and Elon Musk in only the first one hundred days in office.
“Today’s court order is a victory for federal employees, their union rights and the American people they serve. The preliminary injunction granted at NTEU’s request means the collective bargaining rights of federal employees will remain intact and the administration’s illegal agenda to sideline the voices of federal employees and dismantle unions is blocked. NTEU will continue to use every tool available to protect federal employees and the valuable services they provide from these hostile attacks on their jobs, their agencies and their legally protected rights to organize,” said NTEU National President Doreen Greenwald.
“AFGE congratulates our union siblings at NTEU on their important victory in the D.C. District Court today. This ruling is a major step toward restoring the collective bargaining rights that federal employees are guaranteed under the law,” said American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) National President Everett Kelley. “AFGE looks forward to arguing our own case against this unlawful executive order in federal court. We are confident that, together, these efforts will secure the full relief federal employees deserve — and send a clear message that no administration is above the law.”
“We commend the court for recognizing the Trump administration’s executive order stripping collective bargaining rights for what it was: illegal, retaliatory union-busting. This was the most significant attack on workers’ rights in history, and if Trump was allowed to do it to federal workers, he would be able to do it to every worker in America, in every workplace and every industry. So this ruling to restore federal workers’ collective bargaining rights and reinstate their existing contracts—even if temporarily while the case continues in court—is an important first step,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. “But this fight isn’t over, and it isn’t limited to the courts. Every member of Congress who stands with working people needs to support and vote to pass the Protecting America’s Workforce Act (H.R. 2550), a bill that would reverse this outrageous executive order and restore workers’ union contracts. We won’t rest until this illegal order is struck down once and for all.
“AFGE congratulates our union siblings at NTEU on their important victory in the D.C. District Court today. This ruling is a major step toward restoring the collective bargaining rights that federal employees are guaranteed under the law,” said American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) National President Everett Kelley. “AFGE looks forward to arguing our own case against this unlawful executive order in federal court. We are confident that, together, these efforts will secure the full relief federal employees deserve — and send a clear message that no administration is above the law.”
