OPM instructs agencies to terminate union contracts potentially in violation of court orders

Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor told agencies Thursday to get a move on with the administration’s quest to excise labor unions from most federal agencies, seemingly in defiance of multiple federal court orders blocking the initiative.

Last March and August, President Trump signed a pair of executive orders citing a seldom-used provision of the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act to ban unions at most federal agencies under the auspices of national security. Though most agencies implicated in the two edicts terminated their contracts with federal employee unions last summer, a smattering of agencies still recognize their workforces’ labor representatives due to court orders temporarily barring the orders’ implementation.

But in a memo to agency heads Thursday, Kupor demanded agencies comply with Trump’s executive orders, apparently in defiance of the various injunctions prohibiting such actions taking place.

“For various reasons, including litigation, implementation of these executive orders at certain agencies and agency subdivisions has been delayed,” Kupor wrote. “The U.S. Office of Personnel Management now advises agencies and agency subdivisions covered by E.O. 14251 and E.O. 14343 that they should proceed to terminate or modify collective bargaining agreements in order to fully comply with those executive orders.”

https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2026/02/opm-instructs-agencies-terminate-union-contracts-violation-court-orders/411441/