The International, in coordination with IFPTE Locals across sectors, continued last week to submit requests to Congressional appropriators and authorizers in relation to our 2026 legislative priorities. Some of our priorities include IFPTE’s funding requests related to protecting NASA science and aeronautics research from drastic cuts called for by President Trump last year, protecting United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) jobs from being diminished as a result of inefficient and politically motivated reorganizations, and reversing the Trump Administration’s unprecedented union-busting in the federal government by including language defunding the implementation of the two illegal union-busting orders signed by the president last year. On the authorization side of the equation, IFPTE is urging Congress to pass bipartisan Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) and National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) legislation that continues to fund the projects and work performed by IFPTE members at both the USACE and the DOD, including blocking RIFs at our four public naval shipyards across the nation.

In addition to our funding and authorization requests, IFPTE continues to push for passage of legislation to help reverse and mitigate the attacks on federal employees that have been promulgated since President Trump assumed office last year.  At the top of that list is passage of the Protecting America’s Workforce Act (PAWA), bipartisan legislation in both the House and Senate that aims to overturn the two Union-busting executive orders.  This bill did pass the House last year after achieving an impressive, bipartisan majority of House members not only signing onto the bill, but also signing a discharge petition that enabled the legislation to achieve a full House vote.  The Senate version of the bill also has bipartisan support.  However, given that legislation in the Senate requires a 60-vote super-majority threshold to achieve Senate approval, coupled with the reality that Senate Majority Leader John Thune would be very unlikely to schedule consideration of this legislation, it is highly unlikely that PAWA can make it through the Senate as an independent bill. IFPTE will not be dissuaded though and will continue to pursue other legislative avenues toward passing PAWA, including through adding PAWA-like language to must-pass authorization measures such as the NDAA, as well as to government funding measures.  

As we have reported for several months, the administration’s Union-busting agenda is directly impacting IFPTE members and Locals.  While a federal judge has placed an injunction against the first executive order preventing implementation at IFPTE-represented DOD Locals, NASA and DOE among other agencies, are moving forward in implementing the order where IFPTE Locals represent federal workers.  Of course, IFPTE has a pending lawsuit challenging the second order that includes NASA, but that case has been stayed pending a decision on several related yet to be heard cases in federal court and therefore has no injunction in place.  IFPTE is obviously disappointed in NASA’s apparent eagerness to engage in Union-busting, calling it “both shameful and sad.” Regardless of how agencies elect to proceed moving forward, including NASA, IFPTE will continue to grow our Local Unions, build our strength, and represent our members.  

All of this brings us once again to the importance of federal Locals signing up for the IFPTE EDues program, whether dues deduction continues to exist or not.  As labor unions, it is critical that we proactively take charge of the things we can control, in part by collecting dues from our members in order to grow and strengthen our Unions regardless of what a court or an illegal executive order determines.  These actions are very much in our control and are endeavors that we can successfully implement to grow our strength, and in turn our ability to continue to represent our members.  In this regard, the IFPTE International officers, and especially the skilled organizing staff, are here to help each federal Local transition to EDues.  There is no time like the present for our Locals to grow our collective strength!  Please contact Pavel Gerardo (pgerardo@ifpte.org) and Brian Kildee (bkildee@ifpte.org) to get signed up for EDues.  

We will continue to keep Locals updated here next Monday.

Solidarity!

LEGISLATIVE:

• Fiscal Year (2026) Appropriations – There has been some movement in negotiations toward getting agencies falling under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funded, but there has yet to be an agreement, meaning that some 260,000 federal workers are now going without paychecks as the DHS shutdown enters its 5th week.  While IFPTE does not have any members or Locals impacted by this shutdown, federal employees working for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Coast Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), including a significant number being represented by our friends at AFGE, are impacted. IFPTE stands in Solidarity with our AFGE Sisters and Brothers impacted by this shutdown and will keep an eye on this as the DHS shutdown persists.
• FY27 Appropriations and FY27 NDAA – Deadlines for stakeholders to put in their FY27 funding priorities to House and Senate offices have either passed or are nearing.  IFPTE thanks all of those Locals working with the International on those funding requests, and will continue over the next couple of weeks submitting IFPTE-specific appropriations priorities, including but not limited to adequate funding for NASA and NOAA, and the defunding of the Trump Administration’s union-busting executive orders through inclusion of the Protect America’s Workforce Act (PAWA) in the requisite appropriations measures. IFPTE also looks forward to working with defense authorizers on our priorities related to the Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) NDAA.
• Protecting America’s Workforce Act – IFPTE advocated for an amendment to all of the FY26 spending measures before House and Senate lawmakers that would have added the Protect America’s Workforce Act to the funding measure through defunding President Trump’s two union-busting executive orders.  Despite there being overwhelming, bipartisan support for PAWA, which passed the House in December, unfortunately no such amendment was ultimately offered to any of the bipartisan spending packages in either the House or Senate.  We will mirror our efforts through the upcoming FY27 NDAA and appropriations processes, respectively.
   
• NASA Reauthorization – NASA authorizers in the Senate are currently drafting the NASA reauthorization bill.   In this regard, IFPTE will continue to prioritize the protection of NASA’s science and aeronautics research programs from efforts by the Trump Administration to dismantle them; urge Congress to impose a RIF moratorium at NASA to protect its amazing scientists, engineers and administrative workforce, and; include language similar to that that was included in the FY26 House NDAA to repeal the August 28th Trump union-busting order that included NASA.
• 2026 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) - The bipartisan leadership of the House Transportation Committee has met with stakeholders, including IFPTE, as they move to craft their 2026 WRDA reauthorization bill.  This biannual legislation, which provides funding and authorization for the Army Corps of Engineers, is a legislative priority for the IFPTE International and the IFPTE Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) Council.  With the help of all the IFPTE ACE Locals, and Local 561’s Mike Arendt, who represents the International on Capitol Hill along with IFPTE Legislative Director Faraz Khan on the WRDA bill, the issues of concern to IFPTE ACE membership will be worked on throughout this process.  We will keep you all posted.
   
• 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:  

• AFGE v. Trump, 3:25-cv-03070-JD – On February 26, the 9th Circuit issued an opinion overturning the (already stayed) preliminary injunction in AFGE v. Trump, 3:25-cv-03070-JD, the AFGE case challenging the 1st collective bargaining Executive Order primarily on 1st Amendment grounds. In its opinion, the 9th Circuit panel held that the district court had jurisdiction to address the challenge on its merits.  This analysis is very helpful to us in our cases in dealing with any channeling arguments the government puts forth. The 9^th Circuit panel also specifically stated that it was not opining on the potential merit of any ultra vires claim, i.e. that the EO is outside of the authority of the President.   The case will therefore continue to proceed on its merits at the district court level in the Northern District of California. This does not directly affect IFPTE’s cases but is informative and helpful as far as the question of district court jurisdiction. The opinion is available here.
• Labor Amicus Brief on Birthright Citizenship – IFPTE has joined the labor amicus brief filed on February 24 in the birthright citizenship case currently before the Supreme Court. The brief is available here; oral argument has been set for April 1.
• Recent Labor Victories in the Courts – On March 13, a judge in the Rhode Island Federal District Court issued a preliminary injunction against the Veterans Affairs Department, ordering it to reinstate its contract with AFGE on the grounds that the VA’s implementation of the administration’s first national security exclusion Executive Order likely violated the First Amendment as well as the Administrative Procedures Act.  And the previous week, on March 7, a judge in D.C. District court held that Kari Lake had illegally served as Acting CEO of the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the agency overseeing Voice of America (VOA), that the RIFs targeting VOA employees were therefore legally void, and ordered the agency to resume its mission of international broadcasting.
       
• Schedule P/C Amended Lawsuit – On March 4, Democracy Forward and co-counsel filed an amended complaint on behalf of public service organizations and unions, including IFPTE as an affiliate of the AFL-CIO and representative of MSPB administrative law judges and associated professions within the bargaining unit. The lawsuit challenges the Trump-Vance Administration’s rule that unlawfully implements an executive order issued on January 20, 2025, titled “Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce.” The Executive Order and rule lay the groundwork to convert a significant percentage of the federal civil service from employees who can only be fired for cause to at-will employees who can be fired for any reason at all. Thousands of employees-including those who protect our public health, the environment and our food and water-who were hired for their expertise and who serve in non-partisan civil service positions could be stripped of vested job protections, in violation of their due process rights and more than the president’s constitutional authority. See the GovExec article, which includes the amendment complaint, here.
• Update on Status of Second IFPTE Lawsuit Challenging Union-busting EO – Just before the holidays, Judge Friedman issued an order staying IFPTE’s NASA case pending the outcome of various cases brought by AFSA, POPA, and NWSEA that were consolidated with the NTEU case challenging the first national security executive order.   Oral argument for those cases occurred on December 15; we are currently awaiting a decision from the D.C. Circuit on the consolidated cases. Once the DC Circuit issues its decision, the parties will have 14 days to file a joint status report that will include proposals for how our case should proceed.
• 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 and can now access a network of lawyers to help to get them the justice they deserve.   See the September 30th  GovExec article reporting on the Court’s granting of the preliminary injunction.
   
• Status of all lawsuits against the current administration can be found at  Just Security: “Litigation Tracker:  Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions.”
   

GRASSROOTS:

• EDues – IFPTE continues to encourage all federal Locals, whether dues get turned back on or not, to shift toward E-Dues. Please contact Brian Kildee (bkildee@ifpte.org) and Pavel Gerardo (pgerardo@ifpte.org), to get your Local signed up into the EDues program.
• “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.
• 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.
     

PUBLIC RELATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS:

Throughout 2025, the IFPTE Clips Team kept federal sector members informed and updated on the unmerited attacks against civil servants from the Trump Administration and a complicit majority party in Congress. To stay informed in 2026, sign up for IFPTE Federal News & Updates and encourage a coworker to do the same.