Redrawing the Lines of Labor

September 1st, 2025
Dhruv Arun

Recently, President Trump has ordered more agencies to terminate collective bargaining agreements, targeting federal unions that have opposed many of his administration’s policies. On Thursday, President Trump issued a new executive order removing additional federal workers’ union rights, including workers at NASA and the National Weather Service. On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order excluding roughly a half-dozen agencies from federal labor law, citing their national security purpose. Union officials have disputed the reasoning behind the president’s move, which they deem to be retaliation against Trump’s most vocal critics instead. Matt Biggs, President of the International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers, said, “The order seeks to deny bargaining rights at NASA on a bogus national security rationale, despite long-established unions and bargaining rights for NASA civil servants that extend back to the 1960s.”

Early this month, Sharda Fornnarino got the news that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) was ending nearly all of its collective bargaining agreements. Not only are those agreements now void, but unions are also being told to clear out of federal buildings. Fornnarino is an outpatient surgery nurse at the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center in Aurora, where she leads as the National Nurses United union local director. “We went in on the weekend and we emptied our office space,” she said, as her union activities were no longer approved. Over the course of last year, employees like Fornarino spent 750,000 hours of taxpayer-funded time on union activities. In a press release, the VA said, “those hours can now be used to serve veterans instead of union bosses.” However, Fornnarino raised concern, adding, “I think that's just - truly, I feel like that's kind of propaganda.”

Luckily, the executive order doesn't apply to all federal employee unions. Instead, it targets those who have challenged him in court over his actions—like mass layoffs—and preserves unions that support him. “They’re the first line of defense against terrorism in the United States,” said Cole Gandy, who works at the Agriculture Department and leads a union that just lost its contract there. Gandy's union and others have pointed out these targeting inconsistencies in multiple lawsuits. Two appeals courts have so far ruled that Trump can move forward while litigation continues. Gandy said, “We're going to fight to be a union until we can't anymore.” Yet, some workers aren't waiting around to see what happens. They're quitting now, having decided a government job isn't worth it anymore.

Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO—the largest federation of labor unions—said, “His attacks on unions are coming fast and furious,” in response to the administration’s decision to end collective bargaining rights for one million federal workers and to terminate their union contracts. Additionally, workers have concerns over the administration’s proposal to end minimum wage and overtime protections for 3.7 million home-care and domestic workers. Particularly, Jenny Smith, a home-care worker in Illinois, said, “If you take away these wage protections, it will take money out of these workers’ pockets.” She added, “The majority of these workers are black, brown and single mothers. You’re taking from their children’s mouths. David Michaels, the former head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), said, “[This proposal is] devastating to the safety and health of the nation’s workers.” These included a 12% staffing reduction at OSHA, proposals to reduce fines for small businesses that violate safety rules and attempts to eliminate a requirement for adequate lighting on construction sites. Heidi Shierholz, President of the Economic Policy Institute, believes this proposal benefits employers more than employees. This was in response to data from Yale’s Budget Lab noting that only 4% of workers in the bottom half by income are in tipped jobs, while almost 40% of tipped workers earn so little they don’t pay federal income taxes.

Extemp Question: What are the Impacts of President Trump’s rollback of federal union protections for the future of labor rights in the United States?