In a Blow to Dem Coffers, Fed. Judge Lifts Block on Trump's EO Barring Federal Employee Union Bargaining

AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

President Donald Trump's March 27 Executive Order: "Exclusions From Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs" used an obscure provision of Federal labor laws, which authorizes the president to exclude agencies from union collective bargaining if it is determined that those agencies primary work involves national security. Along with Homeland Security and other obvious national security concerns, Trump included the Department of Treasury as an agency involved in national security interests:

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In addition to all agencies with the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, the Department of State and the Department of Veterans Affairs, the order also covers the Treasury Department, all agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation, the General Services Administration and many more.

The federal unions are basically a Democrat PAC which funnels millions of dollars, as well as political advocacy, through its dues-paying members. So, removing federal employee union membership is a blow the Democrat Party cannot afford. On March 31, the National Treasury Employees Union found a U.S. District Court judge to do their bidding, by issuing an injunction to block the executive order, claiming "irreparable harm": 

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman ruled that a key part of President Donald Trump’s March 27 order can’t be enforced at roughly three dozen agencies and departments where employees are represented by the National Treasury Employees Union.

The union, which represents nearly 160,000 federal government employees workers, sued to challenge Trump’s order. The union said it would lose more than half of its revenue and over two-thirds of its membership if the judge denied its request for a preliminary injunction.

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A union losing revenue? Perish the thought. 

THIS is the "irreparable harm," the National Treasury Employees Union is trying to avoid:

Governing magazine found that in the 2021-2022 election cycle, “the biggest public-sector unions spent more than $700 million on election-related activity,” including $160 million from union political action committees. Most union members and all their public-sector leaders are Democrats, and not surprisingly, 96 percent of their funding went to Democratic politics, while the data show that Republican political entities received almost nothing.

Federal government public sector unions, by themselves, are a substantial force. Open Secrets magazine showed that dues mostly paid from U.S. national government salaries (some unions have state members also) constituted half or more of total public sector union political contributions. Again, Democrats received almost all of the funds, while Republican and conservative groups received little or even zero contributions.

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A U.S. Court of Appeals panel did not see the union's financial pains as an issue at hand. On Friday, a U.S. Court of Appeals overtuned the district court ruling:

In a 2-1 ruling Friday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals said U.S. District Court Judge Paul Friedman appeared to have erred last month when he froze Trump’s executive order on the subject.

The appeals court’s majority said there was insufficient evidence that the National Treasury Employees Union faced “irreparable harm” that would justify the preliminary injunction, Friedman said in his ruling.

The judges who ruled in favor also issued a velvet-gloved warning.

Judges Karen Henderson, a George H. W. Bush appointee, and Justin Walker, a Trump appointee, said the national security exception the president invoked in federal labor relations law is an added reason for courts to tread lightly.

“Preserving the President’s autonomy under a statute that expressly recognizes his national-security expertise is within the public interest,” Henderson and Walker wrote.

The National Treasury Employees Union and its ilk is one of the major ways the Deep State has remained entrenched, wrapping itself in red tape and restrictions that made it next to impossible for its employees to be removed. Trump's executive order has leveled that barrier and now an appeals court has affirmed his authority to be... well, a president. We elect presidents to protect the national interest, and part of that role is to deem who and what falls under the purview of national security, as well as who he tasks to enact and protect those interests.

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This is another huge blow to the Democrats, one that they certainly won't take lightly.

 

Editor's Note: President Trump is leading America into the "Golden Age" as Democrats try desperately to stop it.  

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