President Donald Trump signed an executive order effectively ending federal collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) across a wide range of government agencies on March 27. He used the authority granted under the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (CSRA), which allows the president to end CBAs in the interest of national security. Though the action itself is not unprecedented, its reach is significant.

The president designated the work of 18 federal agencies as pertaining to national security, including the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the General Services Administration, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. As a result, the order affects “three-quarters of the workers who currently have a collective bargaining agreement, which is about two-thirds of all federal workers,” said Mark Scudder, attorney at Barnes & Thornburg in Fort Wayne, Ind. According to Trump, all the impacted workers play some role in national security, making their bargaining agreements eligible for cancellation under the CSRA.

In the past, presidents have used their authority to cancel bargaining agreements, Scudder noted. But he was “not familiar with anything that would have affected the same numbers of people” as this order.

Debate Over Parameters

In exercising his authority under the CSRA, Trump aims to remove the red tape that unions represent. According to Scudder, the president views CBAs as “too restrictive.” In Trump’s own words, federal unions are “hostile” and “obstruct agency...

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