A Federal Appeal court has lifted an order blocking President Donald Trump’s administration from stripping hundreds of thousands of federal employees of their ability to unionize and collectively bargain over working conditions.
The 2-1 panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit put on hold an injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman at the behest of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU). The union had blocked the implementation of Trump’s executive order issued in March.
The NTEU and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the ruling. Trump’s order exempted more than a dozen federal agencies from obligations to bargain with unions, including the departments of Justice, State, Defense, Treasury, Veterans Affairs, and Health and Human Services. These agencies are said to have primary functions related to intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work.
The union, representing about 160,000 federal employees, argued that the order violates federal workers’ labor rights and the Constitution. However, the appeals court’s majority found that the union failed to demonstrate it would suffer irreparable harm to justify the preliminary injunction issued on April 25. U.S. Circuit Judges Karen Henderson and Justin Walker, appointees of Republican President George H.W. Bush and Trump respectively, formed the majority.
The majority opinion stated that preserving the President’s autonomy under a statute recognizing his national-security expertise is within the public interest. They also argued that the injunction would impede Trump’s national-security prerogatives. In contrast, U.S. Circuit Judge J. Michelle Childs, an appointee of Trump’s Democratic predecessor Joe Biden, dissented, saying the Trump administration presented only “vague assertions” about potential interference with national security functions.
Trump’s executive order affects approximately 75% of the roughly 1 million federal workers represented by unions. The NTEU estimates the order applies to around 100,000 of its members. The order significantly expands an exception from collective bargaining for workers with duties affecting national security, such as certain CIA and FBI employees. The Trump administration has also filed separate lawsuits seeking to invalidate existing union contracts covering thousands of workers.
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