A federal judge on Saturday invalidated important sections of three executive orders issued by President Donald Trump that made it easier to terminate federal employees and weaken their labor unions.
In her opinion, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of the US District Court for the District of Columbia criticized significant portions of three executive orders issued by Trump earlier this summer that limited the time union officials could spend with union members, the issues that unions could bargain over in negotiations, and the rights of workers disciplined for poor job performance to appeal disciplinary actions.
The court concluded “that many of the challenged provisions of the Orders at issue here effectively reduce the scope of the right to bargain collectively as Congress has crafted it, or impair the ability of agency officials to bargain in good faith as Congress has directed, and therefore cannot be sustained.”
CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.
The largest federal employee union, the American Federation of Government Employees, was the first union to challenge Trump in court over the orders. The union’s president applauded the ruling in a statement released Saturday.
“President Trump’s illegal action was a direct assault on the legal rights and protections that Congress specifically guaranteed to the public-sector employees across this country who keep our federal government running every single day,” AFGE National President J. David Cox Sr. said.
“We are heartened by the judge’s ruling and by the huge outpouring of support shown to federal workers by lawmakers from both parties, fellow union workers, and compassionate citizens across the country,” Cox added.
