ON March 27, President Donald Trump signed an executive order ending collective bargaining for over one million federal workers, according to the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE). Trump’s executive order cites national security concerns as the reasoning for such a major action.

The White House cites the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (CSRA) as giving the president authority to end collective bargaining at agencies with “national security missions.”

The CSRA has traditionally only applied to agencies such as the CIA, the FBI or the National Security Agency. But Trump’s order ends bargaining for employees at a far larger number of government agencies, including the Department of Defence, Department of Veterans Affairs, the National Science Foundation, the Coast Guard, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State, the Department of Energy, and many others. Notably, police and firefighters are excluded from this executive order, and may continue to bargain.

The White House’s rationale appears to be an explicit response to the stance that certain unions have taken against some Trump policies. “Certain federal unions have declared war on President Trump’s agenda,” claims a White House fact sheet regarding the executive order. “The largest federal union describes itself as ‘fighting back’ against Trump. It is widely filing grievances to block Trump policies.”

“Protecting America’s national security is a core constitutional duty, and President Trump refuses to let union obstruction interfere with his efforts to protect Americans and our national interests,” the White House claims.

Union fightback

Over the last two months since Trump’s swearing in, unions have been on the front lines resisting the most extreme of Trump’s policies. This includes AFGE, the largest union for federal employees which is referenced explicitly by the Trump administration fact sheet.

They have launched legal challenges to Trump’s attempt to purge millions of federal workers via a buyout offer, and against Elon Musk’s attempt to access sensitive payment information of government employees.

AFGE has responded to Trump’s recent ending of collective bargaining rights, with AFGE national president Everett Kelley calling the White House’s move a “retaliatory attack.” Trump’s policy goes against federal workers “simply because they are members of a union that stands up to his harmful policies,” Kelley claims.

“These threats will not work,” continues Kelley in a statement. “AFGE is preparing immediate legal action and will fight relentlessly to protect our rights, our members, and all working Americans from these unprecedented attacks.”

Liz Schuler, the president of the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of unions in the United States, said Trump’s executive order “may be the most egregious attack on union rights in my lifetime.”

“This executive order is the very definition of union-busting,” Schuler elaborated in a statement. “It strips the fundamental right to unionise and collectively bargain from workers across the federal government at more than 30 agencies.”

Also vowing to fight back, Schuler continued: “To every single American who cares about the fundamental freedom of all workers, now is the time to be even louder.”

According to American Federation of Teachers (AFT) president Randi Weingarten, “This has nothing to do with security and everything to do with silencing those who disagree with the government.”

Weingarten described the workers affected by the order: “These are the workers, a third of them veterans, who keep the country running. They include educators who teach the children of deployed service members at some of the best schools in the world, run by the Department of Defence.

“They include nurses in VA hospitals who stand up for patients who save people’s lives. And they include workers who safeguard the food supply and preserve Medicaid and Medicare.”

Weingarten vows that AFT members will continue to “fight in the streets, in the courts and in Congress, to uphold both the law and the right of all workers to advocate for their collective interests and America’s future.”

This article appeared on Peoplesdispatch.org.