Trump administration launches attack on federal employee unions

In March 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order (EO) 14251, titled “Exclusions from Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs,” which effectively ended collective bargaining rights for 30 federal agencies, comprising roughly two-thirds of federal workers with existing agreements. This was part of the administration’s broad attack on the government workforce, particularly non-political civil servants, who up until this point had been provided a variety of protections from adverse employment actions dating back nearly 150 years.

Apolitical civil service created, bargaining rights permitted, merit installed

In the wake of the Civil War and the widespread corruption that had taken root in the government, Congress enacted the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883. The Act established a merit-based system for hiring and promoting federal employees, replacing the spoils system. It mandated competitive examinations for certain government jobs, protected employees from being fired for political reasons, and forbade requiring political contributions from employees. A bipartisan Civil Service Commission was created to oversee the implementation of the reforms.

Roughly 60 years ago, on January 17, 1962, federal employees first obtained the right to engage in collective bargaining through labor organizations when President John F. Kennedy issued EO 10988, “Employee-Management Cooperation in the Federal Sector.”