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"We commend every Democrat and Republican who signed the discharge petition to bring the Protect America's Workforce Act to a vote, but the fight isn't over," said AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler.
Two Republicans in the US House of Representatives on Monday added their names to a discharge petition that will now force a vote on legislation to restore the collective bargaining rights of hundreds of thousands of federal workers targeted by GOP President Donald Trump.
US Reps. Jared Golden (D-Maine) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) responded to Trump's legally contentious executive order by introducing the Protect America's Workforce Act in April. They began collecting petition signatures in June. At least 218 members had to sign it to override House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and force a vote on the bill.
Two New York Republicans, Congressmen Nick LaLota and Mike Lawler, signed the petition on Monday. It was previously signed by the sponsors, House Democrats, and GOP Reps. Rob Bresnahan (Pa.) and Don Bacon (Neb.). Their move came on the heels of an end to the longest government shutdown in US history, which left some federal workers furloughed and others working without pay.
"Every American deserves the right to have a voice in the workplace, including those who serve their country every single day. Supporting workers and ensuring good government are not opposing ideas," Lawler said in a statement. "They go hand in hand. Restoring collective bargaining rights strengthens our federal workforce and helps deliver more effective, accountable service to the American people."
"Speaker Johnson has run out of excuses to delay a vote on this legislation to restore federal workers' rights."
Golden, a former Blue Dog Coalition co-chair who recently announced his plans to retire from Congress after this term, thanked the newest signatories for joining the fight for his bill.
"America never voted to eliminate workers’ union rights, and the strong bipartisan support for my bill shows that Congress will not stand idly by while President Trump nullifies federal workers’ collective bargaining agreements and rolls back generations of labor law," Golden said. "I'm grateful to Reps. LaLota and Lawler for bringing this discharge petition over the finish line, and I'm calling on Speaker Mike Johnson to schedule a clean, up-or-down vote on this bill."
Liz Shuler, president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the country's largest federation of unions, similarly welcomed the latest signatures and set her sights on the House speaker.
"The labor movement fought back against the largest act of union-busting in American history by doing what we do best: organizing," Shuler said in a Monday statement. "Working people built a bipartisan coalition to restore union rights to federal workers in the face of unprecedented attacks on our freedoms. We commend every Democrat and Republican who signed the discharge petition to bring the Protect America’s Workforce Act to a vote, but the fight isn't over."
"Speaker Johnson has run out of excuses to delay a vote on this legislation to restore federal workers' rights," she continued. "It's time to bring the Protect America's Workforce Act to a vote and restore federal workers' right to collectively bargain and have a voice on the job."
Other discharge petitions might be more salacious, but it is HUGE news tonight that two Republicans just got the Protect America’s Workforce Act discharge petition to 218 to restore federal workers’ union rights.Let’s get the job done. ✊
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— Lauren Miller (@laurenmiller.bsky.social) November 17, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)—which is the largest federal workers union, representing 820,000 people in the federal and District of Columbia governments—also applauded the development on Monday.
"An independent, apolitical civil service is one of the bedrocks of American democracy," Kelley said in a statement. "Today, lawmakers stood up together to defend that principle and to affirm that federal workers must retain their right to collective bargaining. This is what leadership looks like."
"Federal workers do their jobs every day without regard to politics. Today's action honors that commitment," Kelley asserted.
"AFGE will continue fighting until these essential rights are fully restored, including by fighting to retain Section 1110 of the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act," he vowed, referring to an amendment to the NDAA that restores bargaining rights to hundreds of thousands of civilians working in the US Department of Defense.
While discharge petitions are rarely successful, this one secured the necessary 218 signatures following a similar victory last week, when the newest member of Congress, Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.), signed her name to an effort to force a vote on releasing files related to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
An attorney for unions suing over layoffs called the order "a major blow to the Trump-Vance administration's unlawful attempt to make the Project 2025 playbook a reality by targeting our nation’s career public servants."
US District Judge Susan Illston on Tuesday again sided with federal workers over President Donald Trump's administration, indefinitely extending her block on the mass firing of government employees during the second-longest shutdown in history.
The San Francisco-based judge, nominated by former Democratic President Bill Clinton, granted a preliminary injunction after previously issuing a temporary restraining order in a case launched late last month by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).
"Today's ruling is another victory for federal workers and our ongoing efforts to protect their jobs from an administration hellbent on illegally firing them," said AFSCME president Lee Saunders in a statement. "Unlike the billionaires in this administration, public service workers dedicate themselves to serving their communities. These attempted mass firings would devastate both the workers and the people they serve. We will keep fighting to protect public service jobs against this administration's unlawful efforts to eliminate them."
During the shutdown, some federal workers are furloughed while others keep working; none are paid until the government reopens. With AFGE members facing such conditions, national president Everett Kelley on Monday called for Congress to "reopen the government immediately under a clean continuing resolution," effectively siding with Trump and Republican lawmakers over Democrats who are fighting for legislation to protect the healthcare of tens of millions of Americans.
Just a day later, the union leader took aim at the president while welcoming Illston's new ruling. "President Trump is using the government shutdown as a pretense to illegally fire thousands of federal workers—specifically those employees carrying out programs and policies that the administration finds objectionable," he said. "We thank the court for keeping in place its order preventing the administration from firing workers due to the shutdown while we continue our litigation in court."
The judge's previous order was set to expire on Wednesday. After she issued it, several other unions—the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), National Association of Government Employees (NAGE), National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU)—joined the case.
"This federal court decision is the result of organized labor standing together and leading the fight against the administration's unprecedented, politicized, and unlawful attack on federal workers' rights," declared IFPTE president Matt Biggs. "This is not only a win for the dedicated federal workforce who make up our nonpartisan civil service, but a victory for the American people and the public services our communities and our economy count on."
Tuesday's injunction prevents new reductions in force (RIFs) as well as the "implementation of the roughly 4,000 layoffs that agencies have already ordered," Government Executive reported.
According to the outlet:
The judge said she would clarify the exact scope of the order later on Tuesday in writing, but added in essence federal agencies "are enjoined from issuing any more RIF notices." Michael Velchik, a Justice Department attorney arguing on behalf of the administration, asked that cuts in the US Patent and Trademark Office and the Interior Department not be included in the order as those layoffs were underway long before the shutdown commenced. Illston said she would likely hold a further evidentiary hearing to make that determination.
USPTO already sent RIF notices to about 1% of its workforce, while Interior is planning to lay off thousands of workers.
The unions are represented by Altshuler Berzon LLP, Democracy Defenders Fund, and Democracy Forward, whose president and CEO, Skye Perryman, framed the new injunction as a rejection of the Trump administration's purge of the federal government—which preceded the shutdown and is a key part of Project 2025, a sweeping policy playbook authored last year by various far-right figures, including Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought.
"This order is positive for the American people and a major blow to the Trump-Vance administration's unlawful attempt to make the Project 2025 playbook a reality by targeting our nation's career public servants, who work for all Americans," she said. "Our team is honored to represent the civil servants who are fighting back against President Trump's dangerous agenda, and to have won this crucial injunction that will help stop federal workers from continuing to be targeted and harassed by this administration during the shutdown."
"It’s very much ready, fire, aim on most of these programs, and it has a human cost," said US District Judge Susan Illston.
A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump from firing employees of the US government.
As The Associated Press reported, US District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco granted a temporary restraining order blocking the massive cuts to the federal workforce the Trump administration has carried out during the current shutdown of the federal government.
Illston argued that a restraining order was justified because the Trump administration's cuts appeared to be politically motivated, and she said evidence would likely show they were carried out illegally.
"It’s very much ready, fire, aim on most of these programs, and it has a human cost," she said. “It’s a human cost that cannot be tolerated."
Illston added that the Trump administration acted as if “the laws don’t apply to them anymore" when they began firing workers.
According to Bloomberg News courthouse reporter Zoe Tillman, the US Department of Justice could file an appeal with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals asking for the restraining order to be lifted, although she noted that "circuits have been wary of intervening" when it comes to temporary orders.
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and other federal labor unions last week filed lawsuits aimed at blocking the Trump administration's mass firings, which kicked off last Friday when Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director Russell Vought posted on X that reductions in the federal workforce had begun.
In the wake of Illston's ruling, AFGE posted a response mocking Vought that simply read, "The temporary restraining order has been granted."
Everett Kelley, national president of AFGE, said the judge's ruling had exposed the Trump administration's attempted mass terminations of federal workers as "cruel" and "unlawful."
"These are dedicated public servants who keep our nation running—protecting public health, supporting education, ensuring fair housing, and driving economic growth," Kelley said. "We are pleased with the court’s ruling halting these unlawful terminations and preventing the administration from further targeting hardworking civil servants during the shutdown.”