The twists and turns of Trump’s 2025 war on unions
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.
- Trump continues to curtail union rights and career pipelines
- Labor groups: Trump’s union-busting EO amounts to ‘revenge’ for suing to block workforce cuts
- Pro-labor Republicans push Trump to rescind order busting most federal unions
- Trump administration ends union dues collection for most feds without notice
- Unions sue to stop demolition of mediator agency
- VA is selectively enforcing Trump’s order stripping workers of union rights
- Trump administration lacks standing to sue to enforce anti-labor executive order, union says
- Judge grills administration on ‘broad discretion’ to break up federal unions
- Judge blocks Trump’s anti-union executive order
- Judge: Trump’s national security reasoning for anti-union EO was 'pretext for retaliation'
- Judge orders halt to the shuttering of three independent agencies
- A judge has moved again to block Trump’s anti-union EO
- Appeals court issues stay of judge’s decision blocking Trump’s anti-union order
- TSA union urges judge to block ‘retaliatory’ order outlawing bargaining at agency
- Federal judge blocks dissolution of union at TSA
- Trump’s anti-union executive order has been blocked, again
- Trump’s anti-union EO can remain in effect during challenge, appellate court says
- Lawmakers pursue parallel paths toward blocking Trump’s anti-union order
- New lawsuit scrutinizes Hegseth’s implementation of Trump’s anti-union EO
- A second appeals court has allowed Trump’s anti-union EO to go into effect
- VA terminates most of its union contracts, appearing to disregard OPM guidance
- EPA becomes the second federal agency to cancel its union contracts
- Trump administration nixes union contracts at FEMA, USCIS, food safety agencies
- A fresh executive order aims to ban unions at more federal agencies
- More unions sue following second edict banning them, alleging retaliation
- House NDAA would exempt Defense civilians from union ban
- Bill to nullify Trump’s union executive orders introduced by 48 senators
- Labor groups warn of ‘gaping hole’ in First Amendment if court OKs Trump’s anti-union orders
- Federal appellate decision restores union rights for Defense Department teachers
- Judge blocks Trump’s anti-union executive order for IFPTE-represented workers
- IBEW: Trump’s anti-union EOs target unions expressly protected by law
- Lawsuit offers new details of VA’s anti-union EO implementation
- Lawmakers force House vote on bill nullifying anti-union EOs
- Correctional officers sue for restoration of union rights
- House strips its own provision protecting Defense civilians’ union rights from NDAA
- House passes bill nullifying Trump’s anti-union EOs
- TSA plans to bust labor union despite court order blocking it
- Appellate judges mull challenge to Trump’s efforts to bust most federal labor unions
In 2025, the Trump administration focused on limiting union rights for federal employees, issuing guidance to disregard collective bargaining agreements and signing an executive order banning unions across many agencies. This has led to numerous legal challenges from labor groups, with some court rulings in favor of unions, although many decisions have been put on hold by appellate courts.
- The Trump administration issued guidance to disregard collective bargaining agreements in February 2025.
- An executive order was signed banning unions across 40 federal agencies, affecting two-thirds of the federal workforce.
- Labor groups have initiated numerous court cases to challenge the administration's actions, with some judges ruling in favor of unions.
- The administration's actions have faced significant legal challenges, with multiple judges blocking or questioning the legality of the executive orders.