Trump Renews Push to End Union Contracts for Federal Workers (1)

The Trump administration ordered federal agencies to begin the process of formally terminating collective bargaining agreements with public-sector unions, a move the unions argued should prompt a DC court to intervene.

The US Office of Personnel Management issued a memo Thursday directing agencies to comply with executive orders released in March and August last year that stripped over 1 million federal workers of their collective bargaining rights, citing national security concerns.

While enforcement of the order at some agencies was paused as part of ongoing litigation, the Trump administration is advising agencies to now “proceed to terminate or modify collective bargaining agreements” to comply with the executive orders, OPM Director Scott Kupor wrote.

The order applies to roughly two-thirds of the federal workforce and encompasses employees at over 40 government offices.

In an accompanying document, the OPM instructed impacted agencies to “file decertification petitions or unit clarification petitions” with the Federal Labor Relations Authority. The OPM also required agencies to file monthly status reports for all impacted collective bargaining units until “all termination notices are executed and reported.”

“OPM’s new guidance further demonstrates the retaliatory and unlawful nature of the Trump administration’s unprecedented attacks on collective bargaining,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a statement. “AFGE will continue to challenge this administration’s illegal actions until employee and union rights within the federal government are restored.”

Ongoing Litigation

Unions have filed several lawsuits seeking to block the order, arguing that labor law clearly gives federal employees the right to collectively bargain.

While the unions won early district court victories blocking the order from taking effect, preliminary injunctions applying to the majority of the affected workforce have been stayed by appeals courts.

In May, the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit lifted a lower court ruling blocking the Trump administration from enforcing the executive order. In the opinion, the judges ruled that the The National Treasury Employees Union did not demonstrate “irreparable harm” because of the order.

In a Feb. 13 court filing to the DC Circuit, the NTEU argued that the issuance of the OPM memo constituted “irreparable harm.”

“If the Court viewed the Executive Order’s harm as speculative before, OPM’s directive to formally terminate CBAs covering two-thirds of NTEU’s workers renders that harm certain and imminent,” the union said.

A spokesperson for the OPM didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The case is National Treasury Employees Union v. Donald J. Trump, et al, D.C. Cir., No. 25-05157, Letter filed 2/13/26.