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Unions battle for survival under Trump

Federal employee unions are bracing for battle after courts have lifted a series of injunctions that were stalling the Trump administration’s plans to end collective bargaining rights at a number of agencies.

© The Associated Press

Since the most recent lifting of an injunction earlier this month, the Trump administration has canceled previously signed collective bargaining agreements with at least five agencies, and more are expected.

Unions acknowledge they are facing a “setback” and must rethink aspects of their strategy for survival under Trump.

Unions had argued Trump was using national security as a pretext to go after organizations that have been vocal in challenging many other administration policies.

But a panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to a Trump administration request to lift the last of several lower court injunctions that broadly blocked implementation of the order.

The panel rejected arguments that Trump’s order and an accompanying fact sheet blaming “hostile” unions for trying to “obstruct agency management” were a sign of the true aim of the order.

“Even accepting for purposes of argument that certain statements in the Fact Sheet reflect a degree of retaliatory animus toward Plaintiffs’ First Amendment activities, the Fact Sheet, taken as a whole, also demonstrates the President’s focus on national security,” the court determined.

In the two weeks since, the Trump administration has quietly terminated collective bargaining agreements at the Department of Veterans Affairs; the Environmental Protection Agency; Department of Agriculture Food Safety Inspection Services; the Coast Guard; Citizenship and Immigration Services; and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The Hill's Rebecca Beitsch

© The Hill