Donald Trump's March 2025 order stripping collective bargaining rights from most of the federal workforce has largely survived in court. By April 2026, agencies across the government had begun canceling union contracts, including the entire Defense Department.
With the Senate bill stalled at 49 votes, courts became the main battlefield. A federal judge ordered the Department of Veterans Affairs to restore its union contract for 300,000 employees. The VA defied that order, reversed course under pressure, and the First Circuit upheld the injunction in May 2026.
Why it matters
If this order stands, any president can strip bargaining rights from most of the federal workforce with a single executive signature.
17 events
Latest: May 20th, 2026 · 3 weeks ago
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May 2026
First Circuit upholds order restoring VA union contract
LatestLegal
A First Circuit panel upheld the district court's injunction requiring the VA to keep its AFGE contract in place, denying the VA's emergency motion to stay the order. The ruling reinforced that even where EO 14251 may be valid, agencies face legal limits on voiding contracts already in force.
April 2026
Hegseth orders Pentagon-wide cancellation of union contracts
Executive Action
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a memo giving DoD deputy secretaries 24 hours to terminate most collective bargaining agreements, affecting more than 300,000 civilian employees. Exemptions applied to Federal Wage System workers at four installations and two unions — the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers and the Federal Education Association — that had secured court injunctions.
VA defies court order, re-terminates AFGE contract, then reverses after rebuke
Legal
The VA re-terminated its AFGE contract after Judge DuBose's restoration order, prompting the judge to call the move 'blatant disrespect' for the court's ruling. The VA reversed course and restored the contract after the judicial rebuke.
March 2026
Federal judge orders VA to restore AFGE contract for 300,000 employees
Legal
Rhode Island federal judge Melissa DuBose issued a preliminary injunction ordering the Department of Veterans Affairs to reinstate its master collective bargaining agreement with AFGE, finding the VA likely violated the First Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act. The order covered more than 300,000 VA employees.
February 2026
Ninth Circuit vacates injunction, clears full implementation of EO 14251
Legal
A three-judge Ninth Circuit panel vacated a district court preliminary injunction blocking EO 14251, rejecting AFGE's retaliation claims and allowing agencies to resume full implementation. The IRS terminated its 2022 National Agreement with the National Treasury Employees Union the following day.
OPM issues updated guidance directing agencies to terminate union contracts
Policy Guidance
The Office of Personnel Management published updated implementation guidance for EO 14251 and EO 14343, directing agencies to move forward with terminating collective bargaining agreements. Government Executive reported that some agencies were told to proceed even in areas where court orders remained in effect.
January 2026
Federal unions rally to press Senate on repeal bill
Statement
Federal employees and union representatives rallied to urge the Senate to take up the Protect America's Workforce Act. The Senate bill had 49 co-sponsors — 11 short of the 60 needed to overcome a filibuster.
December 2025
House passes bill to overturn Trump’s union order
Vote
The House votes 231–195 to approve the Protect America’s Workforce Act after a successful discharge petition, with 20 Republicans joining Democrats to restore bargaining rights for about 600,000 federal employees.
November 2025
Discharge petition hits 218 signatures, breaking House logjam
Congressional Tactic
The IAM union announces that a bipartisan group of 218 members has signed a discharge petition to force the Protect America’s Workforce Act to the House floor over GOP leadership’s objections.
Senators including John Hickenlooper, Mark Warner and Lisa Murkowski introduce S. 2837, a Senate version of the repeal bill, signaling growing bipartisan unease with the scope of Trump’s executive orders.
August 2025
Trump widens carve‑outs with second executive order
Executive Order
Trump signs a follow‑on order further amending prior exclusions, adding more units — including certain Bureau of Reclamation operations — to the list of organizations outside federal labor‑relations statutes.
July 2025
OPM orders full implementation of Trump’s exclusions
Policy Guidance
The Office of Personnel Management tells agencies to resume full implementation of EO 14251 in light of recent appellate decisions, accelerating the loss of bargaining rights across targeted agencies.
May 2025
Appeals courts let Trump’s order take effect
Legal
The D.C. Circuit and other appellate courts grant stays of district court injunctions in union lawsuits, allowing agencies to resume implementing EO 14251 while challenges proceed.
April 2025
Federal unions line up behind Protect America’s Workforce Act
Statement
The National Federation of Federal Employees and other unions endorse the bill, calling Trump’s order blatantly illegal and warning it would end collective bargaining for hundreds of thousands of civil servants.
Golden and Fitzpatrick unveil bipartisan repeal bill
Legislation
Reps. Jared Golden and Brian Fitzpatrick introduce the Protect America’s Workforce Act to nullify Trump’s order and restore bargaining rights at affected agencies, with an evenly split bipartisan co‑sponsor list.
March 2025
DOJ sues AFGE to cement Trump’s order
Legal
The Justice Department files suit in federal court against AFGE affiliates, seeking a declaratory judgment that agencies can terminate existing union contracts consistent with the new order.
Trump signs sweeping order stripping federal bargaining rights
Executive Order
Trump signs Executive Order 14251, excluding large portions of more than two dozen agencies from federal labor‑management statutes on national security grounds, effectively voiding many collective bargaining agreements.
Historical Context
3 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.
1 of 3
1981
Reagan Fires PATCO Air Traffic Controllers
When air traffic controllers staged an illegal strike in August 1981, President Ronald Reagan fired more than 11,000 of them and banned them from federal service. Their union, PATCO, was soon decertified, and the government rebuilt the workforce without it.
Then
Air travel slowed but continued; the government broke a powerful federal union and signaled zero tolerance for strikes.
Now
The episode accelerated union decline and normalized tougher anti‑labor tactics in both the public and private sectors.
Why this matters now
Trump’s move similarly uses federal power to break organized labor in government, raising questions about how far presidents can go in redefining workers’ rights.
2 of 3
2002–2006
Homeland Security Union Rights Fight Under George W. Bush
After 9/11, the Bush administration tried to give the new Department of Homeland Security sweeping authority to limit collective bargaining, prompting unions to sue. Courts held that DHS could not create a system that allowed management to abrogate contracts or reduce bargaining to almost nothing.
Then
Key parts of DHS’s personnel rules were struck down, forcing the department to preserve meaningful bargaining rights.
Now
The rulings established that even in national security agencies, Congress’s guarantee of collective bargaining has real teeth.
Why this matters now
Those decisions provide a roadmap for challenges to Trump’s orders and suggest courts may balk at attempts to hollow out bargaining entirely.
3 of 3
2018–2019
Trump’s 2018 Federal Union Executive Orders
During his first term, Trump issued three executive orders to curb federal unions’ access to official time, office space and bargaining topics. A federal judge temporarily blocked key provisions as inconsistent with the federal labor‑relations statute, though later decisions let much of the framework move forward.
Then
Agencies tightened rules on union activity, but the legal back‑and‑forth forced compromises and slowed implementation.
Now
The experience encouraged Trump allies to test even more aggressive ideas in his second term, culminating in EO 14251’s broad exclusions.
Why this matters now
The mixed results of the 2018 orders foreshadow today’s clash: courts may again temper, but not entirely stop, efforts to shrink federal union power.
