Labor unions and worker advocates are hailing a bipartisan House vote to restore collective bargaining rights for federal employees, marking a significant congressional rebuke of President Donald Trump’s executive orders that stripped union protections from large portions of the federal workforce.
The House of Representatives voted 231-195 to pass the Protect America’s Workforce Act, legislation aimed at reversing Trump’s March and August executive orders that curtailed collective bargaining rights under the stated justification of national security. Twenty Republicans joined all Democrats present to advance the bill, which now moves to the Senate, where supporters say it faces a difficult but winnable path.
The legislation was forced to the House floor through a discharge petition spearheaded by Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania. The final signatures required to compel a vote were provided last month by Reps. Mike Lawler and Nick LaLota of New York, allowing the measure to bypass leadership resistance and proceed to a full House vote.
Trump’s executive orders affected close to 1 million federal employees, including many veterans, according to supporters of the bill. Labor leaders and Democratic lawmakers have described the orders as an unprecedented assault on workers’ rights that weakened the ability of federal employees to negotiate over working conditions, staffing, and workplace protections.
Following the vote, Fitzpatrick framed the issue as one of basic democratic participation within the workplace. “The right to be heard in one’s workplace may appear basic, but it carries great weight—it ensures that the people who serve our nation have a seat at the table when decisions shape their work and their mission,” he said. “This bill moves us closer to restoring that fundamental protection for nearly 1 million federal employees, many of them veterans.”
Fitzpatrick also urged the Senate to act, adding, “I will always fight for our workers, and I call on the Senate to help ensure these protections are fully reinstated.”
Labor organizations described the House vote as a rare moment of bipartisan alignment in defense of union rights. AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said the legislation responds directly to Trump’s actions against organized labor within the federal government. “President Trump betrayed workers when he tried to rip away our collective bargaining rights,” she said. “In these increasingly polarized times, working people delivered a rare bipartisan majority to stop the administration’s unprecedented attacks on our freedoms.”
Shuler praised lawmakers from both parties who supported the bill, saying, “We commend the Republicans and Democrats who stood with workers and voted to reverse the single-largest act of union busting in American history.” She added that public confidence in unions remains high, noting, “Americans trust unions more than either political party.”
As attention shifts to the Senate, Shuler emphasized the political pressure building around the legislation. “As we turn to the Senate—where the bill already has bipartisan support—working people are calling on the politicians we elected to stand with us, even if it means standing up to the union-busting boss in the White House,” she said.
Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal workers union, said the House vote demonstrated broad support for a nonpartisan civil service and the role of unions in maintaining effective public institutions. He praised lawmakers who “demonstrated their support for the nonpartisan civil service, for the dedicated employees who serve our country with honor and distinction, and for the critical role that collective bargaining has in fostering a safe, protective, and collaborative workplace.”
Kelley called the vote a turning point, saying, “This vote marks an historic achievement for the House’s bipartisan pro-labor majority, courageously led by Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania.” He urged swift Senate action and cautioned against future legislative efforts that could undermine worker protections, stating, “We need to build on this seismic victory in the House and get immediate action in the Senate—and also ensure that any future budget bills similarly protect collective bargaining rights for the largely unseen civil servants who keep our government running.”
Other major unions echoed that message. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees President Lee Saunders said the legislation strengthens workplace freedoms while safeguarding the quality of public service. He described the bill as “a bill that strengthens federal workers’ freedoms on the job so they can continue to keep our nation safe, healthy, and strong.”
Saunders said the measure provides “workers’ critical protections from an administration that has spent the past year relentlessly attacking them,” while also ensuring “that our communities are served by the most qualified public service workers—not just those with the best political connections.”
Randy Erwin, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees, framed the House vote as a constitutional and institutional check on presidential power. “This is an incredible testament to the strength of federal employees and the longstanding support for their fundamental right to organize and join a union,” Erwin said. He added, “The president cannot unilaterally strip working people of their constitutional freedom of association.”
Erwin said Congress had asserted its authority in a bipartisan fashion, stating, “In bipartisan fashion, Congress has asserted their authority to hold the president accountable for the biggest attack on workers that this country has ever seen.” He pledged continued engagement with lawmakers, saying his union would work with “senators from both parties to ensure this bill is signed into law.”
Opponents of the legislation argued that Trump’s executive orders were part of a broader mandate to restructure the federal workforce. House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer of Kentucky criticized the bill ahead of the vote, defending the president’s approach. “When President Trump ran for office last year, he told the American public that, if elected, he would return federal employees to their offices, reform the bureaucracy and restore much-needed accountability to the workforce,” Comer said. “The American people chose to elect him to do just that.”
The House vote comes amid ongoing disputes over federal labor policy. Labor groups recently suffered a setback when lawmakers removed a provision from the National Defense Authorization Act that would have restored unionization rights for civilian Pentagon employees, underscoring the high stakes of the Senate battle now facing the Protect America’s Workforce Act.
Supporters of the bill say the House action sends a clear signal about congressional priorities and the limits of executive authority over federal labor rights. Whether the Senate will follow suit remains uncertain, but union leaders and lawmakers backing the legislation say the bipartisan House vote has reshaped the debate over the future of collective bargaining in the federal government.
“The president cannot unilaterally strip working people of their constitutional freedom of association,” Erwin said.
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