A rare alliance between five House Republicans and Democratic lawmakers has moved legislation forward to restore collective bargaining rights to federal workers, reversing an executive order issued by President Donald Trump.
This action was made possible on Monday after Republicans Mike Lawler and Nick LaLota of New York, Brian Fitzpatrick and Rob Bresnahan of Pennsylvania and Don Bacon of Nebraska added their signatures to a discharge petition.
The petition, by reaching a majority of 218 signatures, overrides the authority of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), allowing the chamber to consider the measure despite his reluctance to bring it to the floor for a vote, The Daily Caller reports.
The legislation in question was initiated by Jared Golden, a Democratic Representative from Maine.
Its central aim is to undo a directive signed on March 27 by Trump, which targeted labor rights for federal employees working in national security roles.
The executive order applied to roughly one million workers across 18 different agencies, resulting in the termination of union representation for those positions.
The White House at the time described elements within certain federal unions as being opposed to the administration’s policy objectives.
Union advocates, including those at the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), have since labeled the Trump directive as the most sweeping rescission of collective bargaining rights for federal workers in the nation’s history.
The discharge petition, a tool seldom utilized within the House, provides lawmakers with a procedural avenue to compel a vote on the floor when leadership is resistant.
Gaining traction on Monday, the petition’s success was confirmed as enough bipartisan support materialized to meet the necessary threshold.
Lawler, whose political standing relies on a moderate constituency in New York and who enjoys endorsements from major unions, was the final Republican signature that secured the vote.
He has consistently defended the rights of government employees to unionize, viewing the restoration of those rights as a means to improve both government efficiency and public service, according to the Tampa Free Press.
Support from organized labor quickly rallied behind the proposal to reverse the executive order.
Everett Kelley, the president of the AFGE, stated that passing this bill ranks as labor’s leading legislative priority, aiming to address the largest single loss of union rights federal employees have faced.
The AFGE, identified as the largest federal workers’ union in the country, has been a vocal opponent of measures that reduce union protections in the federal workforce.
The move to force the floor vote on union rights mirrors another recent bipartisan action in the House, when several Republicans joined with Democrats to advance a motion to release documents related to Jeffrey Epstein.
Following that vote, President Trump indicated support for making those records public.
The forthcoming ballot on collective bargaining rights, similarly, is expected to draw support from across the aisle, demonstrating a willingness among some members of the GOP to break from traditional party alignment on key labor issues.
A vote on the proposal to reinstate union representation for federal employees is anticipated in the coming days, a step supporters say could overturn major labor restrictions implemented during the Trump administration.
