Bill to nullify Trump’s union executive orders introduced by 48 senators

A bipartisan group of 48 senators introduced legislation Wednesday that would nullify President Trump’s executive orders aimed at stripping two-thirds of the federal workforce of their collective bargaining rights and restore union contracts that agencies began cancelling last month.

Last March, Trump signed an executive order citing a seldom-used provision of the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act to ban unions at most federal agencies, under the auspices of national security. And last month, Trump signed a second edict adding a half dozen more agencies to the March order’s provisions.

The edicts are already the subject of several court battles over their legality, though federal appellate courts thus far have allowed the administration to push forward with implementation. The Protect America’s Workforce Act, which has the support of all 47 Democrats as well as Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, would declare the two executive orders null and void, as well as restore all collective bargaining agreements between federal agencies and their unions that were in place on March 26, before the first edict was signed.

In a statement Wednesday, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the bill’s lead Senate sponsor, described the two executive orders as “union busting” measures that are part of a larger project of tearing down the nonpartisan civil service.

“From the gutting of essential government agencies to the politicization of nonpartisan government jobs, there’s never been a tougher time to be a federal worker,” he said. “As the Trump administration continues to terrorize the federal workforce, I’m proud to introduce legislation to safeguard the longstanding protections that federal employees need right now.”

“Every day our patriotic, merit-based civil servants provide essential services to the American public—and their collective bargaining rights are critical to protecting them from unfair labor practices as they carry out that important work,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. “Trump wants to strip them of these rights so he can continue to gut the federal workforce and easily replace them with political cronies who will do his bidding without regard for the law. This bipartisan bill will stop this lawless union-busting power grab—and protect the integrity of our federal workforce and the services they provide.”

The bill’s introduction comes just a week after the House passed its draft of the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act with a provision that would restore the union rights of the Defense Department’s civilian workforce intact, and newly installed Rep. James Walkinshaw, D-Va., became the 216th lawmaker to support a discharge petition that is now two signatures away from forcing a floor vote on the House’s version of the bill to undo the executive orders altogether.

Unions lauded the measure’s introduction in the Senate Wednesday, eager to capitalize on the recent legislative momentum.

“President Trump’s March executive order stripping most of the federal workforce of collective bargaining rights represents the single most aggressive action taken by the federal government against organized labor in U.S. history, dwarfing any previous action against public or private sector working Americans,” said Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees. “AFGE members are grateful to Sen. Warner for introducing the Protect America’s Workforce Act and standing up for the nonpartisan civil service, the women and men who serve in it, and the critical role that collective bargaining has played for decades in fostering a safe, productive and collaborative workplace that serves the American people.”

“IFPTE was founded in 1918 by federal workers at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, and other Navy shipyards joined together, just as our nation entered World War I,” said International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers National President Matt Biggs. “At agencies that support military readiness, advance scientific breakthroughs and space exploration, protect communities and commerce from environmental hazards, our federal sector local unions have a long and proud history of making sure federal employees and the federal agencies can succeed and serve the American public. We know full well that the Trump administration’s executive orders to deny over 1 million federal workers their bargaining rights on a bogus national security rationale make this the most anti-labor, anti-worker administration in United States history.”