SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
AFGE members protested President Donald Trump's anti-union executive orders last year as their union filed a lawsuit against the president. (Photo: @AFGENational)
Appeals Court Delivers 'Tremendous Blow to Federal Workers' With Decision to Uphold Trump's Anti-Union Executive Orders
"There must be a check on the president's power to destroy federal employees' union rights."
Jul 16, 2019
Unions representing hundreds of thousands of federal employees on Tuesday vowed to fight a federal appeals court ruling in which a three-judge panel unanimously upheld President Donald Trump's executive orders attacking workers' rights.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in the D.C. Circuit said that it lacked jurisdiction to block Trump's orders, which made it easier to fire federal employees, limited the amount of time workers can spend on union business, and compelled federal agencies to devise unfavorable contracts with unions.
"This appeals court decision does not change the fact that the Trump administration severely overstepped its authority."
--Randy Erwin, NFFEThe American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which represents 700,000 of the 2.1 million federal employees affected by the orders, said it would fight the court's decision "using every legal tool available to us."
"Today's terrible decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia is a tremendous blow to federal employees and their voice in the workplace," said AFGE President J. David Cox. "The union-busting framework laid out in the executive orders and the actions already taken at the bargaining table so far demonstrate clearly that there must be a check on the president's power to destroy federal employees' union rights."
The National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) and the AFGE union representing EPA workers echoed Cox's statement.
"In our view, these executive orders violate the law, and we are going to continue to fight them until we get a decision that sticks," NFFE President Randy Erwin told the Washington Post. "This appeals court decision does not change the fact that the Trump administration severely overstepped its authority."
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka also expressed solidarity with the federal workers' unions.
The court's decision reversed a lower court ruling from last year which had struck down Trump's orders. More than a dozen federal employee unions sued the Trump administration last year when the executive orders were announced, arguing that they blatantly violated a decades-old law affirming that workers have the right to collective bargaining.
"This is more than union busting--it's democracy busting," Cox said at the time.
As Lisa Rein of the Post pointed out, the appeals court ruled only that it did not have jurisdiction to rule on the orders, not on the merits of Trump's actions.
But while the court advised the unions to appeal to the Federal Labor Relations Authority, Reins noted on Twitter that "agency's ruling[s] have been uniformally anti-union thus far under Trump."
Rein reported Tuesday afternoon that the unions were discussing the case with their attorneys, and could either ask the appeals court to hear their arguments again or appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Unions representing hundreds of thousands of federal employees on Tuesday vowed to fight a federal appeals court ruling in which a three-judge panel unanimously upheld President Donald Trump's executive orders attacking workers' rights.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in the D.C. Circuit said that it lacked jurisdiction to block Trump's orders, which made it easier to fire federal employees, limited the amount of time workers can spend on union business, and compelled federal agencies to devise unfavorable contracts with unions.
"This appeals court decision does not change the fact that the Trump administration severely overstepped its authority."
--Randy Erwin, NFFEThe American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which represents 700,000 of the 2.1 million federal employees affected by the orders, said it would fight the court's decision "using every legal tool available to us."
"Today's terrible decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia is a tremendous blow to federal employees and their voice in the workplace," said AFGE President J. David Cox. "The union-busting framework laid out in the executive orders and the actions already taken at the bargaining table so far demonstrate clearly that there must be a check on the president's power to destroy federal employees' union rights."
The National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) and the AFGE union representing EPA workers echoed Cox's statement.
"In our view, these executive orders violate the law, and we are going to continue to fight them until we get a decision that sticks," NFFE President Randy Erwin told the Washington Post. "This appeals court decision does not change the fact that the Trump administration severely overstepped its authority."
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka also expressed solidarity with the federal workers' unions.
The court's decision reversed a lower court ruling from last year which had struck down Trump's orders. More than a dozen federal employee unions sued the Trump administration last year when the executive orders were announced, arguing that they blatantly violated a decades-old law affirming that workers have the right to collective bargaining.
"This is more than union busting--it's democracy busting," Cox said at the time.
As Lisa Rein of the Post pointed out, the appeals court ruled only that it did not have jurisdiction to rule on the orders, not on the merits of Trump's actions.
But while the court advised the unions to appeal to the Federal Labor Relations Authority, Reins noted on Twitter that "agency's ruling[s] have been uniformally anti-union thus far under Trump."
Rein reported Tuesday afternoon that the unions were discussing the case with their attorneys, and could either ask the appeals court to hear their arguments again or appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Unions representing hundreds of thousands of federal employees on Tuesday vowed to fight a federal appeals court ruling in which a three-judge panel unanimously upheld President Donald Trump's executive orders attacking workers' rights.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in the D.C. Circuit said that it lacked jurisdiction to block Trump's orders, which made it easier to fire federal employees, limited the amount of time workers can spend on union business, and compelled federal agencies to devise unfavorable contracts with unions.
"This appeals court decision does not change the fact that the Trump administration severely overstepped its authority."
--Randy Erwin, NFFEThe American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which represents 700,000 of the 2.1 million federal employees affected by the orders, said it would fight the court's decision "using every legal tool available to us."
"Today's terrible decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia is a tremendous blow to federal employees and their voice in the workplace," said AFGE President J. David Cox. "The union-busting framework laid out in the executive orders and the actions already taken at the bargaining table so far demonstrate clearly that there must be a check on the president's power to destroy federal employees' union rights."
The National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) and the AFGE union representing EPA workers echoed Cox's statement.
"In our view, these executive orders violate the law, and we are going to continue to fight them until we get a decision that sticks," NFFE President Randy Erwin told the Washington Post. "This appeals court decision does not change the fact that the Trump administration severely overstepped its authority."
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka also expressed solidarity with the federal workers' unions.
The court's decision reversed a lower court ruling from last year which had struck down Trump's orders. More than a dozen federal employee unions sued the Trump administration last year when the executive orders were announced, arguing that they blatantly violated a decades-old law affirming that workers have the right to collective bargaining.
"This is more than union busting--it's democracy busting," Cox said at the time.
As Lisa Rein of the Post pointed out, the appeals court ruled only that it did not have jurisdiction to rule on the orders, not on the merits of Trump's actions.
But while the court advised the unions to appeal to the Federal Labor Relations Authority, Reins noted on Twitter that "agency's ruling[s] have been uniformally anti-union thus far under Trump."
Rein reported Tuesday afternoon that the unions were discussing the case with their attorneys, and could either ask the appeals court to hear their arguments again or appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.