Fact Sheets

# Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Exempts Agencies with National Security Missions from Federal Collective Bargaining Requirements

The White House
March 27, 2025

PROTECTING OUR NATIONAL SECURITY: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order using authority granted by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (CSRA) to end collective bargaining with Federal unions in the following agencies with national security missions:

- National Defense. Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and Coast Guard.
  - VA serves as the backstop healthcare provider for wounded troops in wartime.
  - NSF-funded research supports military and cybersecurity breakthroughs.
- Border Security. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) leadership components, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Executive Office of Immigration Review, and the Office of Refugee Resettlement within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
- Foreign Relations. Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development, Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration, and U.S. International Trade Commission.
  - President Trump has demonstrated how trade policy is a national security tool.
- Energy Security. Department of Energy, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Environmental Protection Agency, and Department of Interior units that govern domestic energy production.
  - The same Congress that passed the CSRA declared that energy insecurity threatens national security.
- Pandemic Preparedness, Prevention, and Response. Within HHS, the Secretary’s Office, Office of General Counsel, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, Food and Drug Administration, and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. In the Department of Agriculture, the Office of General Counsel, Food Safety and Inspection Service, and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
  - COVID-19 and the recent bird flu have demonstrated how foreign pandemics affect national security.
  - VA is also a backstop healthcare provider during national emergencies, and served this role during COVID-19.
- Cybersecurity. The Office of the Chief Information Officer in each cabinet-level department, as well as DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the General Services Administration (GSA).
  - The FCC protects the reliability and security of America’s telecommunications networks.
  - GSA provides cybersecurity related services to agencies and ensures they do not use compromised telecommunications products.
- Economic Defense. Department of Treasury.
  - The Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) defines national security to include protecting America’s economic and productive strength. The Treasury Department collects the taxes that fund the government and ensures the stable operations of the financial system.
- Public Safety. Most components of the Department of Justice as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
- Law Enforcement Unaffected. Police and firefighters will continue to collectively bargain.

ENSURING THAT AGENCIES OPERATE EFFECTIVELY: The CSRA enables hostile Federal unions to obstruct agency management. This is dangerous in agencies with national security responsibilities:

- Agencies cannot modify policies in collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) until they expire.
  - The outgoing Biden Administration renegotiated many agencies’ CBAs to last through President Trump’s second term.
- Agencies cannot make most contractually permissible changes until after finishing “midterm” union bargaining.
  - For example, the FLRA ruled that ICE could not modify cybersecurity policies without giving its union an opportunity to negotiate, and then completing midterm bargaining.
- Unions used these powers to block the implementation of the VA Accountability Act; the Biden Administration had to offer reinstatement and backpay to over 4,000 unionized employees that the VA had removed for poor performance or misconduct.

SAFEGUARDING AMERICAN INTERESTS: President Trump is taking action to ensure that agencies vital to national security can execute their missions without delay and protect the American people. The President needs a responsive and accountable civil service to protect our national security.

- Certain Federal unions have declared war on President Trump’s agenda.
  - The largest Federal union describes itself as “fighting back” against Trump. It is widely filing grievances to block Trump policies.
  - For example, VA’s unions have filed 70 national and local grievances over President Trump’s policies since the inauguration—an average of over one a day.
- 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.
- President Trump supports constructive partnerships with unions who work with him; he will not tolerate mass obstruction that jeopardizes his ability to manage agencies with vital national security missions.

## Related

- #### Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Exempts Agencies with National Security Missions from Federal Collective Bargaining Requirements

  Fact Sheets
  August 28, 2025

- #### Limiting Lame-Duck Collective Bargaining Agreements That Improperly Attempt to Constrain the New President

  Presidential Actions
  January 31, 2025

- #### Exclusions from Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs

  Presidential Actions, Executive Orders
  March 27, 2025

- #### Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Reprioritizes Cybersecurity Efforts to Protect America

  Fact Sheets
  June 6, 2025

- #### Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Requires Transparency for the American People About Wasteful Spending

  Fact Sheets
  February 18, 2025

Notifications