Trump signs order barring collective bargaining in national security agencies: What it means

US president Donald Trump issued an executive order on Thursday to terminate collective bargaining with federal labour unions in agencies handling national security matters, citing powers granted under legislation from 1978. The order removes the right of collective bargaining (union negotiations) from these employees over wages, working conditions, and disputes through their unions.
The directive, revealed late Thursday, encompasses major federal departments including state, defence, veterans affairs, energy, health and human services, treasury, justice, commerce and border security operations within homeland security. The order maintains collective bargaining rights for police and fire service personnel.
The American Federation of Government Employees, representing 820,000 federal and DC government workers, announced plans for "immediate legal action" on Thursday evening, pledging to defend workers' rights against "unprecedented attacks."
"President Trump's latest executive order is a disgraceful and retaliatory attack on the rights of hundreds of thousands of patriotic American civil servants - nearly one-third of whom are veterans - simply because they are members of a union that stands up to his harmful policies," AFGE national president Everett Kelley said.
AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler said, "It's clear that this order is punishment for unions who are leading the fight against the administration's illegal actions in court - and a blatant attempt to silence us." She added, "We will fight this outrageous attack on our members with every fiber of our collective being."

This directive follows previous administrative actions diminishing government workers' collective bargaining rights. Earlier this month, DHS terminated the collective bargaining agreement affecting thousands of Transportation Security Administration frontline staff. The TSA union described it as an "unprovoked attack" and promised to contest the decision.
A White House document released Thursday says, "Certain federal unions have declared war on president Trump's agenda" and Trump "refuses to let union obstruction interfere with his efforts to protect Americans and our national interests."
"President Trump supports constructive partnerships with unions who work with him; he will not tolerate mass obstruction that jeopardises his ability to manage agencies with vital national security missions," the White House further said.