Posts tagged National Security
FEMA joins other federal agencies in canceling union contracts
August 12, 2025 // On Friday, FEMA’s acting administrator, David Richardson, sent a memo to American Federation of Government Employees Local 4060, the union representing the agency, saying that FEMA’s collective bargaining agreement had been terminated, ending a nearly 10-year contract.
EPA axes contracts with unions
August 11, 2025 // In that decision, the 9th Circuit stayed a lower court order that prevented the administration from enforcing Trump’s executive order. AFGE brought the legal challenge in that case along with six unions representing more than 1 million federal employees.
Court allows Trump to end union bargaining for federal workers
August 5, 2025 // Trump's order exempted more than a dozen federal agencies from obligations to bargain with unions. They include the Departments of Justice, State, Defense, Treasury, and Health and Human Services.
New lawsuit scrutinizes Hegseth’s implementation of Trump’s anti-union EO
July 30, 2025 // While previous lawsuits argued simply that President Trump’s citation of the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act’s so-called “national security exemption” en masse violated federal regulatory law, a new suit from IFPTE drills down on the Defense secretary’s implementation of the controversial edict.
The Roadmap To Modernizing Federal Labor Laws: Matt Kittle, F. Vincent Vernuccio
July 20, 2025 // That's one of the main things that we want to see at I4AW. Is workers having a choice in a voice, having. The ability to say who they want to be represented by, how they want their money spent, and how they want to work. And I know we talked about it briefly with the ERA, but the ability for an independent contractor to work for themselves, not be considered an employee, small business owner, to own a franchise, all those things are core to what the flexibility and the entrepreneurship of the modern worker, and those are the concepts that are embraced, you know, not just on the union end of the Employee Rights Act, but on the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit and pro worker end of the ERA.
Agencies’ explanations for implementing labor-management EO run a wide gamut
July 8, 2025 // If the main harm the unions are pointing out relates mainly to their own budget problems instead of the rights that they help negotiate for employees, such as working conditions or quick turnarounds for a scheduling perspective or other protections. Their argument seems short sighted and seems to miss the broader point of what the union’s job is.
Supreme Court likely to decide fate of federal unions
June 30, 2025 // How the Supreme Court will view the matter is anybody’s guess, though the Roberts Court has shown deference to the executive branch and a willingness to revisit precedent involving public sector unions. In its 2018 Janus v. AFSCME ruling, the court said public sector employees could not be forced to join a union as a condition of employment. Federal government collective bargaining is relatively recent, having only been codified in 1978. The Roberts Court may decide collective bargaining is a privilege, not a right, for federal workers.
Judge rules Trump can’t eliminate federal workers’ union bargaining
June 27, 2025 // Siding with the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and other unions, U.S. District Judge James Donato ruled that President Trump’s executive order letting several federal agencies dispense with union bargaining is likely unlawful. Donato wrote in a 29-page opinion that federal workers have had the right to unionize and collectively bargain for better employment conditions for more than 60 years, and Trump’s order threatened that “long-standing status quo.” The six unions that filed suit “appear to have been deemed hostile to the President,” he said.
Trump administration offers some details of how it would control US Steel, but union raises concerns
June 16, 2025 // The union said it was “disappointed” that Trump “has reversed course” and raised basic questions about the ownership structure of U.S. Steel. “Neither the government nor the companies have publicly identified what all the terms of the proposed transaction are,” the letter said. “Our labor agreement expires next year, on September 1, 2026, and the USW and its members are prepared to engage the new owners" of U.S. Steel "to obtain a fair contract.” If Trump has as much control of U.S. Steel as he has claimed, that could put him in the delicate position of negotiating the salary and benefits of unionized steelworkers going into midterm elections.
Trump hails US Steel-Nippon deal, says steelmaker will be ‘controlled by the USA’ — but offers few details
June 1, 2025 // "I have to approve the final deal with Nippon and we haven't seen that final deal yet," Trump told reporters on the tarmac following the Pittsburgh event. "But they've made a very big commitment, and it's a very big investment." In his remarks at the rally, the president said U.S. Steel will maintain all of its current operating blast furnaces at full capacity for a minimum of 10 years.