Dear John,
I recently wrote to let you know that the largest federal workers’ union – the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents over 800,000 employees – was preparing to sue the Trump administration over an executive order that unlawfully seeks to strip union representation from more than one million federal workers.
Now the AFGE has filed their lawsuit. They are battling Trump over his unprecedented actions to cancel existing collective bargaining agreements, roll back civil service employee protections, slash the federal workforce to a fraction of its current capacity, and cut off the unions from millions of dollars in dues, which they cannot exist without.
They argue that President Trump’s order exceeds his constitutional authority and is a violation of federal workers’ rights. They take issue with Trump’s claims that the unions threaten “national security” by noting that federal workers support and uphold the services the American people value most: our veterans, national parks, Social Security, and Medicare/Medicaid.
Will you add your name to the grassroots Amicus Brief, a petition to the courts, supporting federal workers in their fight against Trump’s dangerous power grab now?
It’s important to understand: Trump’s goal is not just to destroy the unions. It’s to make the unions as weak as he possibly can so he can privatize as many services as they can. This is the big-picture goal of Trump, Musk, and DOGE. As Musk said recently, "I think logically we should privatize anything that can reasonably be privatized."
In their efforts to weaken worker protections, politicize the civil service, and cut the essential services that millions of Americans rely on, Musk and Trump find AFGE’s lawsuit inconvenient. But let’s be clear: while a union nurse at the VA is not a threat to national security, this executive order is a threat to democracy.
AFGE is taking legal action to defend federal workers from Trump’s latest power grab. But this isn’t just one union’s fight – it’s a fight for every worker in America. As AFGE President Everett Kelley put it: “Trump’s threat to unions and working people across America is clear: fall in line or else.”
Trump wants unchecked power over America’s workforce – no unions, no voice, no rights. If he wins this battle, he won’t stop. Backed by billionaire union-busters like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, Trump is aiming to gut collective bargaining and silence workers nationwide.
We can’t let that happen. Join the Amicus Brief today and show the courts that the American people stand with our federal workforce.
Thank you for standing with the public servants who keep this country running. Let’s make sure their voices are heard in court and beyond.
Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action
