A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked the Department of Homeland Security’s attempt to terminate the collective bargaining agreement for tens of thousands of airport transportation security officers.
This ruling marks another legal setback for the Trump administration’s efforts to reshape the federal workforce.
U.S. Senior District Judge Marsha Pechman of the Western District of Washington in Seattle issued a preliminary injunction, criticizing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s reasoning for ending the union contract with the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) as insufficient and revealing a “retaliatory nature” behind the decision.
Pechman, appointed by President Bill Clinton, wrote in her order that the termination appeared to be punishment against AFGE and its members because of their resistance to the administration’s attacks on federal employment through the courts.
She noted that Noem’s action contradicted over a decade of agency consensus that collective bargaining benefits the officers, the Transportation Security Administration, and the public. Pechman instructed DHS to inform union members that the contract remains valid, including their right to have union dues automatically deducted from their paychecks.
When DHS initially announced plans to rescind the contract, it claimed the move would allow officers to “operate with greater flexibility and responsiveness,” aiming to improve security and efficiency in protecting the public. The agency had invited the union to join in celebrating what it described as increased efficiency, enhanced safety, and shorter airport security wait times resulting from this change.
In related legal battles, both AFGE and the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) are challenging a Trump executive order intended to end collective bargaining rights for hundreds of thousands of federal workers across several agencies. In April, a federal judge in the District of Columbia issued a preliminary injunction in the case brought by the NTEU.