Move FM Global News

WASHINGTON, D.C.: A federal appeals court recently lifted a block that had stopped President Donald Trump’s administration from removing union rights for many federal workers.

The ruling allows Trump’s executive order to take effect. That order, issued in March, removed the rights of workers in over a dozen federal departments to join unions and bargain over their working conditions. The affected departments include Justice, State, Defense, Treasury, Veterans Affairs, and Health and Human Services.

The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents about 160,000 federal employees, had argued the order violated their rights. A lower court judge had agreed and stopped the order from being enforced.

But the appeals court, in a 2-1 decision, said the union didn’t prove it would suffer enough harm to justify blocking the order. Two judges — U.S. Circuit Judge Karen Henderson, an appointee of Republican President George H.W. Bush, and Justin Walker, whom Trump appointed during his first term — stated that allowing the order to stand is in the public interest because it relates to national security.

Trump’s order used a national security exemption to exclude agencies involved in intelligence, investigations, or security work from having to negotiate with unions.

One judge, Michelle Childs, who President Joe Biden appointed, disagreed with the decision. She stated that the Trump administration had not clearly demonstrated how union activity would harm national security.

The order affects about 75 percent of the roughly one million federal workers represented by unions, including about 100,000 members of the NTEU.

Trump’s executive order also expanded the number of workers who could be excluded from union protections, particularly those in agencies such as the CIA and FBI. His administration has also filed other lawsuits to cancel existing union contracts.