Unions for employees at two federal agencies are the next to attempt to convince a district judge to temporarily block President Donald Trump‘s cancellation of their collective bargaining agreements, despite previous union wins being quickly unwound on appeal.
The Patent Office Professional Association and National Weather Service Employees Organization will make their case Wednesday to join at least three unions that have won temporary relief from Trump’s executive orders.
Judge Paul L. Friedman of the US District Court for the District of Columbia temporarily blocked the cancellation of CBAs for employees at the publicly funded international broadcaster Voice of America, the National Treasury Employees Union, the American Foreign Services Association, and the AFL-CIO.
But the DC Circuit halted the injunctions in the NTEU and AFSA suits, while appeals in the others are pending. The government urged Friedman to reject the latest injunction request and follow the appellate court’s reasoning that other union plaintiffs’ claims were unlikely to succeed.
“It is still fact specific and based on what evidence each side can provide, but it is persuasive authority,” Michael Fallings, partner at Tully Rinckey PLLC, said of the appellate rulings.