FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Matt Dorsey
(202) 550-6987
February 17, 2026
Washington, DC – Today, the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE-IAM) is urging Congress to pass legislation to protect federal collective bargaining rights following a memo issued late last week by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The memo directs agency heads to cancel or amend collective bargaining agreements at agencies impacted by President Trump’s March executive order, which stripped collective bargaining rights from more than one million federal employees.
“Despite ongoing lawsuits challenging executive orders that deny federal employees their right to form and join a union, the President is once again attempting to unilaterally eliminate collective bargaining at federal agencies,” said NFFE National President Randy Erwin. “NFFE is confident that the courts will recognize this for what it is – an unlawful attack on the constitutional rights of civil servants.”
Since the March 2025 executive order, several federal agencies employing NFFE-IAM members have continued to abide by the law and honored collective bargaining agreements amid ongoing legal challenges to the Trump Administration’s orders.
“It is clear that the President is hell-bent on denying federal workers their right to a union, and is moving forward as such, even when agency leaders have resisted the termination of agreements and the harm that can do to carrying out agency missions,” continued Erwin. “The U.S. Senate must pass the Protect America’s Workforce Act, just as the U.S. House of Representatives did with overwhelming bipartisan support. Federal employees and the critical services they provide to American people must be protected from the unethical and illegal actions of this Administration. NFFE will continue fighting in the courts and in the halls of Congress to ensure federal workers’ right to form and join a union is fully restored.”