Worker Protection Agency Is Ditching Its Judges To Satisfy Trump Administration

Source: Huff Post

Aug 18, 2025, 12:51 PM EDT


A small but essential federal agency plans to get rid of its judges who help resolve government workplace disputes, a move unions say will consolidate more power among President Donald Trump’s political appointees and weaken the collective-bargaining system.

The Federal Labor Relations Authority has told Congress it will eliminate its administrative law judges as part of a reorganization scheme to comply with the Trump administration’s cost-cutting orders. The judges conduct hearings involving unlawful firings and union contract violations, and issue decisions that can be reviewed by the authority’s three presidentially appointed members.

Unions are concerned because the three judges serve as subject-matter experts who are insulated from political meddling to protect their neutrality. With the judges gone, the review of unfair labor practice cases would be left solely to the president’s appointees.

The FLRA is an obscure federal agency with only around 100 employees, but it serves a critical role in government labor relations. It’s typically where federal unions turn to when they believe their members’ rights have been violated, which has been frequent during the Trump era.

Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/federal-labor-relations-authority-judges-trump_n_68a3461ae4b03709c085be9c