People gather for a "Save the Civil Service" rally hosted by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) outside the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 11, 2025. Unionized federal workers and members of Congress denounced President Trump and his allies including Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) for purging federal prosecutors, forcing out civil servants with dubious buyouts, and attempting to shutter USAID, all while branding government employees the "enemy of the people."

People gather for a "Save the Civil Service" rally hosted by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) outside the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 11, 2025. Unionized federal workers and members of Congress denounced President Trump and his allies including Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) for purging federal prosecutors, forcing out civil servants with dubious buyouts, and attempting to shutter USAID, all while branding government employees the "enemy of the people." Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

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Policy

The twists and turns of Trump’s 2025 war on unions

A look at how the Trump administration has sought to undermine collective bargaining at the Defense Department and across the federal government.

Erich Wagner

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Erich Wagner
By Erich Wagner

The Trump administration in 2025 made excising or otherwise cracking down on unions a focal point of its push to overhaul the federal workforce.

The campaign began in February, when the Office of Personnel Management issued guidance encouraging agencies to disregard collective bargaining agreements when implementing President Trump’s January memo barring most telework.

And the following month, the Homeland Security Department sought to ban collective bargaining at the Transportation Security Administration, where union rights had been administratively granted and expanded during the Obama and Biden administrations, respectively. And Trump signed an executive order banning unions across 40 agencies under the auspices of national security, effectively stripping two-thirds of the federal workforce of their right to bargain collectively.

In the months since, labor groups have fought to retain their foothold within agency workforces across a myriad of court cases. Though judges have issued at least a dozen decisions in favor of unions, mostly citing First Amendment violations, appellate courts have put most of those decisions on hold, allowing agencies to implement the edict and its August follow-up.

These stories track how the administration’s campaign against federal unions has played out across agencies, courts and Congress. 

Share your news tips with us: Erich Wagner: ewagner@govexec.com; Signal: ewagner.47

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