A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction this week after ruling that the White House likely violated the law by stripping nearly a million federal workers of their union rights.
AFSCME and five other unions filed a lawsuit on April 3 challenging President Donald Trump’s March 27 executive order, which ended collective bargaining rights for about 950,000 federal employees the unions collectively represent.
The administration cited national security as the reason for the executive order.
But the unions argued that the order was unconstitutional retaliation to punish them for engaging in activity protected by the First Amendment, including expressing opposition and filing legal challenges to the current Administration’s policies. That was the basis on which the Court granted the unions their preliminary injunction.
The unions also argued that the administration violated the Fifth Amendment by voiding collective bargaining agreements without due process of law. And they alleged that the administration exceeded its authority by applying the national security exemption to employees whose primary functions are clearly unrelated to national security. These include workers at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Environmental Protection Agency, Food Safety and Inspection Service, and several other departments and agencies.
The lawsuit was filed by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), AFSCME, National Association of Government Employees (NAGE-SEIU), National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE-IAM), National Nurses United (NNU), and Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
“This is justice for the federal workers who were unfairly retaliated against and had their freedom to collectively bargain ripped away for standing up to illegal executive actions,” said AFSCME President Lee Saunders.
“This executive order is a direct effort to silence federal workers’ voice on the job — an essential freedom that helps maintain the integrity of our democracy,” Saunders added. “Federal workers serve every community and targeting them through political retribution threatens the freedom of all working people to fight for fair treatment. We applaud this ruling as a critical defense of our communities and our rights at work.”