PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The National Treasury Employees Union, a federal labor union representing 150,000 workers across about three dozen U.S. agencies, is suing to block the Trump administration from trying to end collective bargaining with government employees.
Last week, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to end collective bargaining with federal labor unions in agencies with national security missions across the federal government, citing authority granted to him under a 1978 law. The NTEU called the order a “brazen, illegal attack on workers and unions.”
Alex Jay Berman, executive vice president of NTEU Chapter 71 in Philadelphia, said the action contradicts the Trump administration’s own efforts to shrink the federal labor force.
“How do you say with one breath, ‘You can’t unionize because you’re too important for national security,’ and with the other breath say, ‘By the way, we’re gonna cut your workforce in half,’” he said. “The feeling is that we are being punished for daring to do our best to work hard for the American people. And that hurts — that hurts a lot.”
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Affected agencies include the Departments of State, Defense, Veterans Affairs, Energy, Health and Human Services, Treasury, Justice, and Commerce, and the part of Homeland Security responsible for border security.
Trump said the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 gives him the authority to end collective bargaining with federal unions in these agencies because of their role in safeguarding national security.
A White House fact sheet on the executive order said that “certain Federal unions have declared war on President Trump’s agenda,” and that Trump “refuses to let union obstruction interfere with his efforts to protect Americans and our national interests.”
“President Trump supports constructive partnerships with unions who work with him; he will not tolerate mass obstruction that jeopardizes his ability to manage agencies with vital national security missions,” the White House said.
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Berman said he feels NTEU is being attacked even though he believes unions allow the federal government to work more smoothly. “We are there to help the employees maintain their rights to make a better workplace so that the work that’s being done for the people of this country is better.”
On Monday, the American Federation of Government Employees, a different union that represents more than 750,000 federal workers, said it is also planning legal action, calling the order a retaliatory attack against unions that stand up to Trump.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.