Posts tagged AFGE
13 Republicans Vote to Nullify Donald Trump’s Executive Order
December 11, 2025 // Democratic Representative Jared Golden, who led the bill, forced a vote on it by using a mechanism known as a discharge petition. The Congressional procedure means lawmakers can force a vote on a piece of legislation against the wishes of the leadership on the condition that it has majority support in the House.
House strips its own provision protecting Defense civilians’ union rights from NDAA
December 11, 2025 // A source familiar with congressional negotiations said that the bipartisan language effectively nullifying President Trump’s anti-union executive orders as they pertain to the Pentagon was dropped due to lack of support in the Senate.
Editorial Board: America’s veterans deserve better care than government unions provide
December 8, 2025 // The smarter approach would be for Congress to affirm Trump’s decision to strip collective bargaining rights while dispensing with his flimsy national security justification. Consider the legacy of pro-union President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who opposed collective bargaining and strikes for federal employees. As Roosevelt and other pro-union leaders understood in the 1930s, collective bargaining is carried out against an employer. The government’s employer is the public. Allowing unelected labor union bosses to negotiate against the public’s elected representatives to determine how the government gets run is undemocratic.
Unions urge US judge to block 1,300 State Department layoffs
December 4, 2025 // The law, known as a continuing resolution, prohibits agencies from implementing layoffs through January 30. The Trump administration has told agencies that the law does not apply to job cuts that had been announced before the shutdown began on October 1, including the State Department layoffs that were first announced in July. The American Federation of Government Employees and American Foreign Service Association said in Wednesday's filing that the administration's interpretation of the law is wrong. They asked U.S. District Judge Susan Illston to issue a ruling by Friday morning blocking the layoffs pending further litigation.
Unions back amendment to shield Pentagon employees
November 24, 2025 // Rep. Donald Norcross (D-N.J.) is pushing to include Section 1110 in the National Defense Authorization Act, which would reinstate bargaining rights for the department’s civilian staff, countering President Donald Trump’s March and August executive orders. The measure has drawn enough GOP interest that more than a dozen House Republicans urged Armed Services committee leaders in both chambers to keep the language in the final bill. Unions including the American Federation of Government Employees have argued that the Trump administration’s actions leave the largest segment of the federal workforce without the ability to bargain. “It affects a huge workforce,” Daniel Horowitz, AFGE’s legislative director, told Shift. “It’s 250,000 bargaining-unit employees for us at the Defense Department, and other unions have thousands more. So it’s really important in terms of restoring collective bargaining.”
House majority forces vote on bill to restore collective bargaining for most federal employees
November 18, 2025 // Meanwhile, another bipartisan group of lawmakers is also leading a bill that would restore collective bargaining rights for VA employees. Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) are leading that bill. The National Treasury Employees Union, as well as the National Weather Service Employees Organization and the Patent Office Professional Association, are also suing the Trump administration over its collective bargaining rollback. Federal courts in D.C. will hold proceedings in both cases next month.
Jeffries stalls effort to restore federal workers’ bargaining rights
November 18, 2025 // Jeffries stalls effort to restore federal workers’ bargaining rights Reps. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) were poised to sign a discharge petition to force a floor vote before the House minority leader stepped in. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill on Nov. 4, 2025. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill on Nov. 4. | Francis Chung/POLITICO By Lawrence Ukenye and Meredith Lee Hill 11/13/2025 01:10 PM EST Updated: 11/13/2025 03:43 PM EST House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ staff on Wednesday night blocked an effort to sidestep Speaker Mike Johnson and force a vote on a bipartisan bill that would restore collective bargaining rights for thousands of federal workers, according to four people granted anonymity to describe the sensitive matter. House leadership has stalled on scheduling a vote for the “Protect America’s Workforce Act” since it was introduced in April. Lawmakers have introduced a discharge petition that would allow the bill to immediately get a floor vote if 218 people sign on.
Op-ed: Democrats Caved in the Shutdown Fight. Unions Let Them.
November 13, 2025 // The main rationale provided by AFGE president Everett Kelley was that his members were suffering economically from the shutdown. There’s no doubt that this hurt is very real, and I do not doubt the sincerity of Kelley’s commitment to his membership. But AFGE’s leadership could have decided to pressure Republicans rather than Democrats to end the shutdown. That was a political choice. Rank-and-file AFGE members this morning released an open letter calling on their national leadership to oppose the deal. As one rank-and-file AFGE member wrote to me last night, “Many of us are furious at AFGE leadership
Unions sue over Trump administration’s political ‘loyalty’ hiring plan
November 7, 2025 // Unions representing federal workers filed a lawsuit on Thursday challenging a decision by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to include what they said is a partisan "loyalty question" in more than 1,700 job posts since October's start.
Federal shutdown heads for record-longest; local union says workers feeling financial pain
November 6, 2025 // Senators from both parties, Republicans and Democrats, are quietly negotiating the contours of an emerging deal. With a nod from their leadership, the senators seek a way to reopen the government, put the normal federal funding process back on track and devise some sort of resolution to the crisis of expiring health insurance subsidies that are spiking premium costs from coast to coast.