Key highlights from recent developments:

• Trump's executive order targets over 1 million federal workers, ending collective bargaining rights.
• The move impacts agencies including Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security.
• Major unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees, plan immediate legal action.

President Donald Trump has recently signed an executive order that will eliminate collective bargaining rights for more than one million federal employees across numerous key agencies, as part of his ongoing efforts to exert greater control over the government workforce. The order, signed late Thursday, cites national security as the basis for this sweeping change. It encompasses critical agencies such as the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, State, Treasury, Energy, and parts of Health and Human Services.

The White House justifies this directive under the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, claiming that collective bargaining at these agencies hampers national security missions. "Certain federal unions have declared war on President Trump's agenda," states a White House fact sheet, framing the unions as obstructive to the administration's objectives. Labor leaders have called the decree "union-busting" and a direct assault on the rights of civil servants. According to NPR, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which represents around 800,000 federal workers, has vowed to challenge the order in the courts.

The executive order notably exempts law enforcement personnel, retaining their rights to collective bargaining. However, many others, including workers from various essential sectors linked to national security, are now excluded from union protections. "President Trump's latest executive order is a disgraceful and retaliatory attack on the rights of hundreds of thousands of patriotic American civil servants," AFGE President Everett Kelley stated, emphasizing that a significant portion of affected workers are veterans.

This order follows a pattern of previous actions by Trump aimed at diminishing the influence of federal labor unions, including recent changes at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has also denounced the move, labeling it as a calculated effort to suppress worker rights and silence dissent against the administration's policies.

Unions are preparing for a legal fight, asserting that the executive order undermines the long-standing rights granted to federal employees to collectively bargain and advocate for their rights in the workplace. President Trump aims to reshape the U.S. government workforce, stating that he will not allow union obstruction to interfere with national interests. The implications of his order could cripple union power and reshape labor dynamics within the federal workforce, leading to unprecedented legal battles in defense of workers' rights. For more details, see the coverage by HuffPost and IndiaTimes.