WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed a new executive order on March 27 that excludes several federal agencies — including two under the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) — from coverage under the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute. The reasoning behind this order was “to enhance national security,” Trump said. 

The agencies listed in the executive order were determined to have a primary function of intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative or national security work. Among those named were the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Environmental Protection Agency, and many others.

These agencies will no longer have the right to collective bargaining agreements and grievance proceedings granted through the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute.

Under the order, secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs are delegated authority to suspend the exclusions for their subdivisions if they certify that collective bargaining is possible without compromising national security.

Furthermore, if affected employees were previously part of a bargaining unit, their agency head will reassign them from union-related work to solely agency business and terminate participation in pending grievance proceedings.

Trump also asked that within 30 days agency heads report any possible subdivisions connected to national security that were not listed in the executive order.

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