Kelly, Senate Democrats Demand Trump Rescind Illegal Executive Order Threatening Federal Employee Collective Bargaining Agreements

This week, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly joined the entire Senate Democratic Caucus in urging President Donald Trump to rescind his executive order ending collective bargaining agreements between public employee unions and dozens of federal agencies and bureaus. 

In their letter, the Democratic senators blasted the move as a “gross overreach” of presidential authority, asserting that the executive order is a clear attempt to gut the federal merit-based civil service and establish a political litmus test for government employees. They stressed that the order poses a grave threat to the ability of over one million federal workers to carry out their missions and deliver important services for the American people – and thus should be rescinded immediately. 

“We write today in outrage over your recent executive order entitled Exclusions from Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs, a gross overreach of the authority granted in the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (CSRA). This order is an insult to the hardworking public servants who go to work on behalf of the American people,” the senators began. 

“The executive order effectively classifies two thirds of the federal workforce as having national security missions, a blatant misuse of a limited authority intended to provide operational flexibility to address legitimate security needs,” they continued. “There is no evidence that the long-standing collective bargaining agreements at these agencies have jeopardized our nation’s security in any way; to the contrary, the protection collective bargaining has provided for employees allows them to conduct their work on behalf of the American people—including blowing the whistle on fraud or abuse—without political interference.” 

“This Administration clearly does not have even a basic understanding of the legally binding nature of federal collective bargaining agreements and is actively trying to bend the law to undermine protections for federal civil servants. We urge you to immediately rescind this illegal executive order so that our dedicated public servants can continue to work on behalf of the American public without fear for their job or political retribution,” the senators concluded. 

The Senators’ letter is endorsed by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), and Service Employees International Union (SEIU). 

A copy of the letter is available here.