TRUMP TRIES TO END BARGAINING CONTRACTS WITH FEDERAL UNIONS
Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty Images
In its latest union busting attempt the Trump administration is suing the American Federation of Government Employees to invalidate its collective bargaining contract.
Using an obscure provision of the law, President Trump issued an executive order March 27 excluding government agencies from long-standing unionization rights if he determines that those agencies are primarily engaged in national security work. The order will affect federal workers who aren’t even involved in national security work if Trump says they are. It will involve about two-thirds of the federal work force.
The suit was filed in Waco, Texas before a judge, Alan Albright, a Trump appointee, in line with his practice of “judge shopping” for a friendly judge to hear his cases. It asks for a reinterpretation of federal law that would permit the agencies to rescind union contracts, rather than alleging any particular legal violations on the unions’ part. Much of the federal workforce has been unionized for decades. Roughly 32 percent of public sector workers are members of unions.
