President Donald Trump has ordered collective bargaining agreements at more agencies to be terminated, striking at federal unions that have opposed many of his administration’s policies.
Trump signed an executive order Thursday excluding roughly a half-dozen agencies from federal labor law, citing his power to do so at agencies whose primary purpose is national security. NASA and the National Weather Service, as well as the Bureau of Reclamation’s units managing hydropower were among those listed in the order.
Union officials have disputed that reasoning behind the president’s move, which they deem to be retaliation against Trump’s most vocal critics instead.
The order “seeks to deny bargaining rights at NASA on a bogus national security rationale, despite long-established unions and bargaining rights for NASA civil servants that extend back to the 1960s,” said Matt Biggs, president of the International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers, in a statement.
