Five Republicans Defy Trump in Bid to Give Federal Employees Full Union Rights

A few Republicans are bucking President Donald Trump on bargaining rights for federal workers.

Five House Republicans have signed a discharge petition to force a vote on overturning a Trump administration order and restoring unionization rights for thousands of federal employees. The move is a notable break with the president and effectively circumvents House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has resisted calls from Democrats to bring the legislation to the House floor.

The five Republicans who signed the discharge petition include Mike Lawler and Nick LaLota of New York, Brian Fitzpatrick and Rob Bresnahan of Pennsylvania, and Don Bacon of Nebraska.

A discharge petition is a procedural maneuver that allows lawmakers to force a vote on legislation if the petition reaches a simple majority of 218 signatures.

“I’m proud of the bipartisan coalition I’ve built to right this wrong — including the five Republicans who signed my discharge petition to force this vote,” Maine Democratic Rep. Jared Golden, one of the legislation’s sponsors, wrote on X Monday evening, calling Trump’s executive order “the single biggest act of union-busting in American history.”

Lawler, a moderate Republican lawmaker who represents a swing district, celebrated being the final signature to trigger a vote on the legislation in a post on X Monday. The New York Republican has defended federal workers’ right to unionize and has previously won several key union endorsements.

“Restoring collective bargaining rights strengthens our federal workforce and helps deliver more effective, accountable service to the American people,” Lawler wrote.

Golden’s successful effort to force a vote on repealing the Trump executive order comes as four Republicans also defied the White House and party leadership to trigger a vote on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files last week.

Trump has since reversed his position and called for the release of all documents related to the disgraced financier. The House is expected to vote on bipartisan legislation offered by Democratic California Rep. Ro Khanna and Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie on Tuesday afternoon.

Golden’s legislation would roll back Trump’s March 27 executive order that terminated union representation of federal employees working in national security-related roles. The order impacted roughly one million unionized federal employees across 18 agencies.

“Certain Federal unions have declared war on President Trump’s agenda,” a White House fact sheet accompanying the executive order said.

The American Federation of Government Employees, the nation’s largest federal workers’ union that has resisted Trump’s efforts to cull the federal workforce, is backing the effort to overturn the Trump rule.

“This bill has been called labor’s top priority in Congress and for good reason — it seeks to undo the largest loss of collective bargaining rights in U.S. history,” American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley said in a statement.

The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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