Exclusions From Federal Labor-management Relations Programs

Employees across numerous departments and agencies will lose federal labor-management protections, while agency leaders gain greater control over workforce matters. The order also permits additional exclusions and requires a government-wide review for more national security-related units.

What the order does ​

• Excludes listed departments, agencies, and subdivisions from the federal labor-management relations law because their work is deemed primarily related to intelligence, investigations, or national security.
• Excludes specified State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development units employing Foreign Service officers from their labor-management relations program.
• Allows the Secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs to restore bargaining coverage for subdivisions they certify can operate under it consistently with national security.
• Allows the Secretary of Transportation to exclude departmental subdivisions, including the Federal Aviation Administration, or suspend labor-law provisions at overseas installations and activities.
• Requires affected employees performing union-related work on agency time to return solely to agency business after their collective bargaining agreements end.
• Directs agencies to end participation in pending grievances, arbitration reviews, and unfair-labor-practice cases involving newly excluded employees after their agreements end.
• Requires agency heads within 30 days to identify additional subdivisions that may qualify for national security-based exclusion.
• Preserves bargaining coverage for specified local police, security guard, firefighter, and U.S. Marshals Service offices, subject to stated exceptions.

Who it affects ​

• Federal employees and unions in the listed departments, agencies, information-technology offices, and Foreign Service units.
• Agency leaders responsible for labor relations, staffing, grievances, arbitration, and national security functions.
• Employees in Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Transportation units whose bargaining coverage may be restored, removed, or suspended by their Secretaries.