Labor Movement Achieves Bipartisan Majority, Forces Vote to Restore Federal Workers’ Union Rights
A discharge petition on the Protect America’s Workforce Act (H.R. 2550) reached 218 signatures today, mandating the House of Representatives vote on restoring union rights to federal workers within seven legislative days.
The bipartisan bill, introduced by Reps. Jared Golden (ME-02) and Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01), reverses President Trump’s executive order stripping union rights from 1 million federal workers. In the months since, the Trump administration has escalated its attack, stripping collective bargaining rights further and unilaterally canceling union contracts for more than 400,000 federal workers.
These Trump administration DOGE/Project 2025 attacks on federal workers have already had cascading effects on the critical services Americans depend on, from increased wait times and staffing shortages at VA hospitals to threats to food safety and disaster response. Today, with signatures from Reps. Mike Lawler (NY-17) and Nick LaLota (NY-01), the Protect America’s Workforce Act is now guaranteed a vote on the House floor. If it passes, the bill would be the first legislation to directly overturn a Trump administration executive order in this term.
“The labor movement fought back against the largest act of union-busting in American history by doing what we do best: organizing. 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,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler.
“Speaker Johnson has run out of excuses to delay a vote on this legislation to restore federal workers’ rights. 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.”
More than 70% of Americans—Democrats, Republicans and Independents—support unions. After months of organizing, there is now also bipartisan majority support in Congress for the Protect America’s Workforce Act to rein in this illegal power grab and restore federal workers’ collective bargaining rights.
Contact: Onotse Omoyeni, 202-637-5018