The legislation would also ban agencies from participating in collective bargaining negotiations.
GOP Senators Marsha BlackBurn of Tennessee and Mike Lee of Utah are introducing legislation to end federal labor union deals to improve government efficiency and increase productivity, National Review has learned.
Blackburn and Lee’s bill, the Federal Workforce Freedom Act, comes after the Trump administration moved to end collective bargaining at the Transportation Security Administration to return to merit-based employment and streamline the TSA bureaucracy.
“Nearly 200 TSA officers employed at the taxpayers’ expense spend their workdays focused on matters important to labor unions instead of keeping Americans safe, and I applaud the Trump administration’s action to help make our government more efficient,” Blackburn said in a statement.
“This legislation would end federal labor unions and immediately terminate their collective bargaining agreements to ensure the federal government is working on behalf of the American people – not labor unions – by increasing the productivity of its workforce.”
The Federal Workforce Freedom Act would repeal the existing statutes that govern federal labor relations and ban federal employees from engaging in labor unions for the purposes of collective bargaining. The legislation would also ban agencies from participating in collective bargaining negotiations and terminate all existing collective bargaining agreements between government agencies and unions.
A quarter of the federal workforce is composed of union members, a much higher unionization rate than the overall American workforce, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The overall unionization rate for American workers was 9.9 percent in 2024, with the private sector unionization rate standing at 5.9 percent.
Federal employees are allowed to conduct union activities during work hours, a perk that cost taxpayers approximately $135 million in fiscal year 2019, according to a report from the Office of Management and Budget. Government unions have also pushed for telework policies that the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency is scaling back in order to raise productivity and increase accountability for the federal workforce.
DOGE, headed by billionaire Elon Musk, is attempting to reduce the size of the federal government and rein in the administrative state. Trump recently limited DOGE’s ability to fire agency employees unilaterally after a series of missteps from Musk’s team resulted in crucial federal workers being fired and quickly rehired across a variety of agencies.
The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employee union representing 800,000 federal and D.C. workers, has fought against DOGE’s efforts to fire federal employees and dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development.
AFGE’s partisan activity against Trump is consistent with its long history of political contributions to Democrats and affiliated organizations. In the 2024 election cycle, 96 percent of the union’s political spending went to Democratic candidates and committees.
For DOGE’s changes to become permanent, it will likely need assistance from congressional Republicans on budgetary priorities and other legislative vehicles for government reform. Blackburn and Lee are both champions of DOGE and their legislation to eliminate federal collective bargaining would advance its mission.
Trump has repeatedly praised Musk and DOGE’s work, saying it is important for making sure his executive orders are implemented according to plan. Scaling back the administrative state has long been a goal of Trump and his supporters because of the leaks and defiance among federal bureaucrats during Trump’s first term.