IFPTE Federal Sector Round Up on
Trump/Musk and DOGE Attacks on Federal Workers
Late last Friday afternoon, May 16, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision lifting the restraining order against President Trump’s executive order (EO) aimed at eliminating federal labor unions. In a 2-1 decision by the three-judge panel, the court ruled that the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) did not prove irreparable harm to the Union, despite the fact that though the implementation of the EO resulted in the immediate elimination of payroll union dues from federal union members to their Unions, including IFPTE. The two judges who issued the majority opinion were both appointed by Presidents (George H.W. Bush and Donald Trump) that have a history of Union-Busting policies, and it is disappointing to see them render a ruling that IFPTE believes is clearly incorrect. That said, there remains a lawsuit led by AFGE in federal court in the Northern District of California, and we expect there will be another lawsuit against the order in which IFPTE will be a named plaintiff. See below to learn more about IFPTE and organized labor’s legal efforts.
Also this week, the House Republican majority continued their efforts to ram through a budget reconciliation package aimed at making permanent the Trump Administration’s tax cuts for our wealthiest citizens and corporations, and have working families help to offset the almost $5 trillion increase in the budget deficit by eliminating Medicaid and food assistance for upwards of 24 million American citizens as well as will lead the closure of hospitals across the nation. Sadly, the majority in the House scheduled a 1am mark-up in the Rules Committee on Wednesday morning, followed by consideration in the full House during the early morning hours on Thursday so the public would, literally, be left in the dark as to just how draconian and damaging the legislation is to working families and to how much the budget will balloon the national deficit. At the end of the day, and after a visit by President Trump to personally meet with the House majority, the House passed the bill by a single vote at 6:55am. While the bill is historically terrible for working families, IFPTE’s legislative efforts did result in the elimination of language calling for federal workers to pay more into their defined benefit retirement without a corresponding benefit increase and changing the pension calculation formula from the average high three of earnings to the high five years of earnings. IFPTE also was successful in working to get language aiming to eliminate the tax-exempt status of non-profit organizations from the bill. More details on this are included in the recap and on the IFPTE webpage, and IFPTE will continue to work against this budget package as the debate on this issue moves over to the Senate.
IFPTE’s legislative director Faraz Khan continues to work on Capitol Hill each week and this past week was no different. Brother Khan continues to work with Congressional offices to gain cosponsors for HR 2550, bipartisan legislation overturning Trump’s latest Executive Order aimed at eliminating collective bargaining rights for some 1 million federal workers and eliminating union payroll dues deduction. The bipartisan cosponsor list has reached 221 this week, and the labor movement, including IFPTE, is pushing for a discharge petition to get the bill to the House floor. IFPTE is also working to get an identical, and hopefully bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate. More on that below…
Finally, IFPTE continues to roll out the EDues program, with Locals 121 and 1, the first in the pilot program to start signing up members to use the new platform. Of course, this became necessary because of President Trump’s Executive Order eliminating union dues payroll deduction across most federal agencies. We again thank all of the Locals across the IFPTE family that stepped up to support IFPTE’s federal sector by contributing to the setup cost of the EDues system. THANK YOU is again in order to Locals 1, 20, 21, 70, 160, 162, 194, 195, 1921 and 2001 for your generous contributions to the EDues program!
Legislative:
1) The Protect America’s Workers Act (HR 2550) introduced last month by Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and Democratic Rep. Jared Golden to repeal the Trump Executive Order (EO) eliminating collective bargaining rights for 1.5 million federal workers, now has 221 cosponsors, representing more than 50% of the House of Representatives. IFPTE and labor unions are pivoting toward a discharge petition to force a full vote of the House of Representatives. A discharge petition is needed because, despite the overwhelming support for the legislation, House Speaker Mike Johnson will not schedule the bill for consideration. See IFPTE’s letter supporting the House bill. At the same time, IFPTE continues to work with key Senators to introduce a similar bill to the Fitzpatrick-Golden bill in the Senate, and IFPTE anticipates that bill to be introduced soon.
2) Tell Congress: Hands Off Federal Employees’ Retirement Benefits and Merit System Protections. As stated above, IFPTE and the larger labor movement’s legislative efforts were successful in getting most of the FERS pension cuts for federal workers removed from the House-passed budget reconciliation package. However, the elimination of the FERS supplement starting in 2028 and the provision forcing new hires to choose either at-will employment or lose 5% of pay for merit-protections are in the House-passed text. The fight is not over, as the budget reconciliation process now moves over to the Senate. All Senators need to hear from their constituents that none of these provisions should be in the Senate’s version of the budget reconciliation bill – not the provisions that increased FERS contribution rates to 4.4% for all federal workers, not the change of the high-3 to high-5, and not the remaining provisions that are in the House-passed bill. Slashing federal retirement benefits, reducing the take-home pay of federal workers, and allowing unaccountable and politicized firings of new hires will trigger an exodus of experienced and skilled federal workers, hollow out agencies that provide essential services and functions, and legalize corrupt and partisan practices at the expense of the American public. Email Your Senators and urge them to oppose any cuts to federal employees’ retirement benefits, any reductions to take-home pay, and any effort to force newly hired federal employees to choose between pay and civil service protections. 3) IFPTE continues to ask lawmakers to cosponsor HR 3093, The “Restoring Employment and Hiring Incentives for Removed Employees Act” or REHIRE Act to rebuild the federal workforce by providing a hiring preference for federal workers who were fired or otherwise involuntarily removed during the Trump Administration, and; HR 3094, the ‘‘Probationary Reduction for Employee Protections Act’’ or PREP Act would clarify that federal employees who are new to the competitive service have a 1-year probationary period, and employees who are moving to a new competitive service position from another position will have a 6-month probationary period. Both bills are authored by Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA) and IFPTE is encouraging Locals to also urge their House members to cosponsor these bills.
Legal:
1) A DC Circuit Appeals panel issued a 2-1 decision lifting the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against President Trump’s Union busting. The May 7 injunction on the Trump union busting EO in the NTEU lawsuit was lifted late Friday, May 16 by a three-judge appeals panel in the DC Federal Circuit. The 2-1 decision lifting the restraining order ruled that the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) did not prove irreparable harm to the Union, even though the EO caused the immediate elimination of payroll Union Dues from federal union members to their Unions, including IFPTE. See the NTEU lawsuit here.
IFPTE continues to monitor the AFGE case in the Northern District of California, which has a longer briefing schedule that continues through this summer. The judge in that case set a hearing date on the request for preliminary injunction of June 18, 2025.
2) On May 22,a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction that extended the two-week temporary restraining order she had put in place pausing RIFs at many government agencies, including EPA and SSA – On Thursday, May 22, 2025, Judge Illston in the Northern District of California issued a preliminary injunction extending the pause in implementation of Executive Order 14210 and agency-level Reduction-in-Force (RIF) activity across dozens of federal agencies indefinitely pending the outcome of the litigation. The case was brought by unions, nonprofit plaintiffs, and local government plaintiffs against the Trump administration based upon “fundamental questions of executive authority and separation of powers.”
The court found plaintiffs are likely to succeed in their claims that Executive Order 14210 and related agency directives are unlawful and exceed executive authority under both the APA and the Constitution. The opinion rejects the government’s argument that its actions are ordinary agency decisions made independently, concluding instead that the reorganization plans were directed by the White House and violate the separation of powers. In its opinion, the court recognized the sweeping scope of the harm posed by the administration’s actions, including agency plans to eliminate tens of thousands of positions and disruption of public services. In imposing the preliminary injunction, the court noted that “[a]gencies may not conduct large-scale reorganizations and reductions in force in blatant disregard of Congress’s mandates, and a President may not initiate large-scale executive branch reorganization without partnering with Congress.”
The preliminary injunction applies to the following agencies: OMB, OPM, DOGE, USDA, Commerce, Energy, HHS, HUD, Interior, Labor, State, Treasury, Transportation, VA, AmeriCorps, EPA, GSA, NLRB, NSF, SBA, and SSA and their efforts to implement or enforce sections 3(c) and 3(e) of Executive Order 14210 or the February 26, 2025 OMB/OPM Memorandum. Here is a link to the ruling and a link to a GovExec article.
While this ruling does cover EPA and SSA, where IFPTE members work, it does not cover other federal agencies where IFPTE members are employed, including DOD. The next coalition case may include DOD as well as mass RIFs. We will keep Locals updated as things progress.
3) IFPTE is a co-plaintiff in a RIF case in D.C. District Court covering all of our Locals, including DOD. As we previously informed you, plaintiffs’ requests for a TRO and PI were rejected by the D.C. District Court. This case is still pending on the merits; the government filed a motion to dismiss on May 15. Here is the amended complaint. We will keep Locals updated as this litigation continues.
4) More lawsuits to come – As part of the overall litigation strategy, IFPTE is part of a coalition of unions joining together to file an additional lawsuit against the Executive Order in a venue to be determined. We thank those Locals that have already provided information to our Legal Department and ask that Local leaders continue to do so as we prepare. Please contact IFPTE General Counsel Teresa Ellis at tellis@ifpte.org with any pertinent information regarding specific impacts from the imposition of the EO.
5) IFPTE RIF guidance to Locals – Please see the March 11 memo from IFPTE GC, Teresa Ellis, and Greg McGillivary of McGillivary Steele Elkin regarding Reductions-In-Force (RIFs) and Mass Terminations of Federal Employees. OPM, OMB and DOGE mandated that federal agencies produce RIF lists by April 14.
- See the February 26 OPM memo instructing agencies to largely ignore RIF language in union negotiated CBA’s and calling on agencies to identify positions to RIF by April 14. IFPTE recommends that Locals file grievances if management refuses to abide negotiated RIF language in their respective CBAs.
6) Legal support for federal workers – Rise Up, Fight Back – Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have had their basic rights violated on the job—including tens of thousands who have been fired illegally. Federal workers have an urgent need for legal support. Federal workers now have a network of lawyers helping to get them the justice they deserve. See the GovExec article here. 7) Status of all lawsuits against the current administration can be found at Just Security: “Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions
Grassroots:
1) “Civil Service Strong” coalition – IFPTE has partnered with the Civil Service Strong project of Democracy Forward, along with other unions, to support our members who are civil servants under attack by the Trump administration. Alongside the 95% of people who believe civil servants should be hired and promoted based on their merit rather than their political beliefs, Civil Service Strong is committed to supporting a career, non-partisan civil service and the people who power it. Learn more here.
2) MAKE A CALL – Restore Federal Employee Rights Now – IFPTE joins the AFL-CIO campaign asking every single American who cares about the fundamental freedom of all workers to join a union to call their member of Congress right now. Fill out the form on the right to receive a call or dial 844-896-5059. Learn more here. 3) IFPTE Members are telling their Congressional lawmakers: “Hands Off Federal Employees’ Retirement Benefits and Merit System Protection” – Don’t allow millionaires and billionaires in Congress and the White House use federal employees as a cost offset for budget reconciliation legislation. Learn more here… https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-hands-off-federal-employees-retirement-benefits-and-merit-system-protections/
Public Relations and Communications:
This week’s Federal News and Updates (the “Clips”) featured items that took a more in-depth look at issues important to IFPTE members concerned by the assault on the civil service. The Clips included articles (examples below) on key provisions of the GOP budget bill passed by the House last week and recent legal actions affecting the labor movement’s fight in the courts to defend rights of federal workers.
THE BUDGET: A Sneaky Policy Buried in the GOP Tax Bill Could Blow Up the Civil Service (HuffPost)
The White House has tried to unilaterally shut down federal agencies, terminate tens of thousands of probationary employees, carry out mass layoffs through “reductions in force” and strip collective-bargaining rights from up to a million workers….Federal unions are an obstacle to all those goals, and the GOP tax measure could be one way to weaken them for good.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/house-gop-tax-bill-at-will-employment_n_682f8bcfe4b0e1fe96d65092
THE COURTS: Judge Calls Out Trump’s Absurd Argument for Wrecking the Department of Education (New York Magazine Intelligencer)
This is one case (there will be others) that will eventually force the Supreme Court to provide some clarity about executive takeovers of congressional authority under the guise of actual presidential powers applied haphazardly and, in this case, counterproductively.
To keep up with the latest news on events in the federal sector, please fill out this form: https://www.ifpte.org/federal-news-clips. If you’re already signed up, share it with a coworker or friend!
IFPTE Local 400 