Since Inauguration Day, the Trump administration has taken a flurry of actions that have put our federal agencies, economy, and democracy at risk. One alarming line of attack that directly threatens workers’ economic security has been on labor unions and workers’ right to engage in collective action.
For decades, large corporations and unscrupulous employers have undermined workers’ right to collective bargaining. But throughout this period, the federal government largely recognized the existence of these rights and respected the independent bodies that enforce our labor laws. No more.
Trump has tossed aside the rule of law and advanced a strategy to not only weaken but effectively eliminate many workers’ ability to engage fully in collective action and bargaining. Below are some of Trump’s most egregious actions so far.
Union-busting the federal workforce. In March, Trump issued an executive order that stripped union protections from more than one million federal workers across dozens of federal agencies. And in advance of Labor Day, Trump issued another executive order expanding these actions to additional agencies. Despite ongoing litigation, some agencies have unilaterally canceled collective bargaining agreements with the unions that represent its employees. For example, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced in early August that union contracts for 400,000 employees were terminated, eliminating crucial protections for federal workers.
More than 20,000 IAM members who worked for the Veterans Administration and the Department of Defense have lost their bargaining rights. “The IAM has three locals in the Western Territories (Honolulu, San Diego, and Bremerton WA) that have been chartered for decades to represent workers at the Navy Department. With the members stripped of all their rights, nobody knows if the locals will even continue to exist,” explained Directing Business Rep Don Crosatto.
Trump’s actions represent the largest retaliatory action against unions and workers ever and send an alarming signal to employers across the country. The federal government should be modeling high-road employer practices. Instead, Trump has implemented the most egregious union-busting tactics and normalized illegal actions for private-sector employers across the country.
Undercutting efforts to foster and support labor-management mediation.
In March, Trump directed the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) to “reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law.” Since 1947, the FCMS has helped resolve difficult labor disputes, especially those that resulted in strikes. There is a clear interest for the federal government to encourage parties to continue engaging in the collective bargaining process: workers who go on strike can experience economic hardship and broader economic impacts may be felt.
Trump’s actions may have a significant chilling effect on workers’ ability to get employers to engage in good faith at the bargaining table.
Threat to fire, or not pay, workers after government shutdown.
According to a memo circulated by the White House, furloughed federal workers may not be eligible for back pay after the government shutdown. The memo appears to contravene the 2019 “Government Employee Fair Treatment Act,” signed by Trump during his first term after a partial shutdown that stretched over 35 days. And it paints a cloudy economic picture for the 750,000 federal workers currently under furlough.
The White House has also used the shutdown as an excuse to suspend energy and infrastructure funding for the 18 states that voted against Trump in the 2024 election, including California.
