Introduction

President Donald Trump has issued several executive orders affecting the federal workplace. One directive with sweeping impact is Executive Order (EO) 14251, issued on March 27, 2025. The EO excludes federal employees in more than a dozen cabinet-level and other agencies from labor law coverage and collective bargaining agreements (CBAs). Absent the EO, these employees and agencies would be subject to the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (FSLMRS), a statute passed in 1978 as part of civil service reform legislation. According to the EO, the President’s action was justified by a statutory provision to protect the nation’s national security.

Under 5 U.S.C. § 7103(b)(1), the President can exclude federal agencies from application of the FSLMRS if two things are true: a primary function of the agency involves national security work, and if union representation would not be “consistent with national security requirements and considerations.”

The purpose of this column is to consider faulty empirical evidence that has been offered by the Administration to support the EO, and to offer an alternative perspective on the FSLMRS and arbitration.

The Administration contends that union representation is inconsistent with and undermines national security because CBA terms and arbitration decisions interfere with managerial prerogatives to run government agencies without delay or obstruction. In a memo from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), also...

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