Trump orders more agencies to nix collective bargaining agreements

In a new executive order, Trump added more federal agencies to his list slated for collective bargaining cancellations “to enhance national security.”

Editor’s Note: This story was updated with comments from AFGE.

A handful more agencies are now under orders from the White House to terminate their collective bargaining agreements with federal unions.

In an executive order signed Thursday afternoon, President Donald Trump added more agencies and a few agency components to an already extensive list of federal entities slated for collective bargaining cancellations. Trump said the terminations of labor contracts are intended “to enhance the national security of the United States.”

Trump’s initial executive order from March 27 invoked a narrow, rarely used portion of the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act that allows a president to suspend collective bargaining for national security purposes. The White House said the additional agencies it’s now directing to cancel collective bargaining agreements all have missions dealing with national security as well.

The agencies that Trump’s existing anti-union orders now cover are NASA; the U.S. Agency for Global Media; the National Weather Service and the National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service — both within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; the Bureau of Reclamation’s hydropower program; and the Patent and Trademark Office’s commissioner of patents office.

Trump said in his executive order that the agencies and agency components newly tacked onto the anti-collective bargaining list all have “as a primary function intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative or national security work.” The agencies that Trump deemed no longer eligible for collective bargaining join many others, which the Office of Personnel Management listed out in March 27 guidance.

The White House did not immediately respond to Federal News Network’s request for clarification on why these specific agencies were not part of the initial March order, or why they are being added to the list at this time.

The new executive order follows months of the Trump administration’s efforts to erode union rights for federal employees, while also overhauling civil service protections more broadly. In a fact sheet issued Thursday, the White House argued that collective bargaining at agencies dealing with national security work “can create delays in agency operations.”

“President Trump is taking action to ensure that agencies vital to national security can execute their missions without delay and protect the American people,” the White House wrote. “The President needs a responsive and accountable civil service to protect our national security.”

Federal unions, however, have argued that collective bargaining benefits agency missions, rather than detracting from them. Many have also pointed out that Trump’s orders to cancel collective bargaining across much of the federal workforce swept up many agencies with missions that have nothing to do with national security.

Multiple federal unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees, quickly sued the administration over the president’s actions earlier this year. While about half a dozen lawsuits remain ongoing, several agencies have already moved forward with terminating their union contracts after an appeals court decision green-lit agencies to begin implementing Trump’s orders from March.

The departments of Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs and Health and Human Services, among others, recently “de-recognized” many of their federal union chapters, revoked official time and reclaimed office space from union representatives.

AFGE National President Everett Kelley said the union would have an “immediate response” to Trump’s new executive order and vowed to continue fighting in court for its members.

“This latest executive order is another clear example of retaliation against federal employee union members who have bravely stood up against his anti-worker, anti-American plan to dismantle the federal government,” Kelley said Thursday evening. “Several agencies including NASA and the National Weather Service have already been hollowed out by reckless DOGE cuts, so for the administration to further disenfranchise the remaining workers in the name of ‘efficiency’ is immoral and abhorrent.”

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