Donald Trump took away federal workers’ union rights. Congress must restore them.

By U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine

Unions built the middle class in this country, not just through collective bargaining to improve wages and working conditions for their own members, but by fighting for a fair economy for all of us.

But today, because of executive action by President Donald Trump, more than 1 million working people who are members of unions — people like VA nurses, food safety inspectors and disaster relief workers — have had their contracts torn up and their collective bargaining rights taken away. 

It’s long past time for Congress to act. Today, I’m calling on my colleagues in Congress, a majority of whom oppose the president’s union-busing executive action, to join me in forcing a vote to overturn his order. 

The president’s order removed collective bargaining rights from roughly 75 percent of federal employees. With the stroke of a pen, he took away labor rights and silenced the voices of workers all over the country. 

There are more than 12,000 federal workers in Maine. I refuse to stand by while any president works to roll back the clock on their hard-won union protections. After all, if the White House can roll back federal workers’ rights, it’s only a short step to roll back the rights of private-sector unions too. 

This executive order is no small thing: Presidents from both parties have for decades upheld federal workers’ collective bargaining rights. President Trump’s order means federal employees lose vital protections from retaliation and political interference. It makes it easier to degrade working conditions, fire workers and silence whistleblowers.

That’s why I introduced legislation that would overturn the president’s order and guarantee that federal workers’ union contracts would be honored. 

My bill has more cosponsors than any other piece of legislation introduced by a Democrat in this Congress. I’m particularly proud that seven of my Republican colleagues, including my lead cosponsor, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, crossed the aisle to join me. 

This broad, bipartisan support is no surprise. In today’s politics, it’s hard to get a large majority of people to agree on anything. But 70 percent of Americans support unions. And by a 2-1 margin, people oppose making it easier to fire federal workers. 

Yet today, the GOP majority has no plan to bring the bill to the floor. 

So now, having secured broad support for federal employees’ union rights, we embark on a new effort. Along with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and with support from federal unions and members on both sides of the aisle, we are working to secure the signatures necessary for a discharge petition — a procedure that will force a vote on the House floor. 

To date, 222 members of Congress have signed onto my bill, a solid majority of the chamber. We have the votes. We are asking members to demand the majority leadership give us the opportunity to cast them.

Discharge petitions are rarely successful, but I believe we can get the job done. Not only do we know the votes exist to pass the bill, but we have recently seen Congress use this procedure to pass major bipartisan legislation in the Social Security Fairness Act. 

I believe every Democrat in Congress will sign our discharge petition, and two Republicans already have. All we are asking is for the remaining five Republicans who support this bill to stand with us — to show the courage of their convictions and demand that House Speaker Mike Johnson let us vote. 

Bipartisan consensus is not always easy to find. But when we do find it, we have an obligation to act on it.

Golden of Lewiston represents Maine’s 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.