AFL-CIO, AFGE, AFSCME challenge effort to fire civil servants

Labor and public service organizations are fighting implementation of an executive order that seeks to make it easier to fire civil servants and politicize public service

The following is from the AFL-CIO:

WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 5, 2026) — Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and a coalition of unions and labor federations—including American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the AFL-CIO and AFGE Local 1923—yesterday filed a consolidated and updated legal challenge to Schedule Policy/Career, the Trump–Vance administration’s executive and regulatory effort to unlawfully convert potentially tens of thousands of merit-based, nonpartisan civil servants into at-will employees. The new final rule would make it easier for political appointees to fire civil servants.

Plaintiffs are represented in the matter by Democracy Forward, the Law Office of Jonathan Weissglass, and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

The rule unlawfully implements an executive order (EO) issued on Jan. 20, 2025, Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce. The challenge combines a pair of lawsuits previously filed by PEER, AFGE and AFSCME in response to the EO. The filing adds information to the case and highlights how the new final rule, recently published by the Office of Personnel Management, violates the law by undermining Congress’ clear mandate to create a nonpartisan and merit-based civil service by creating a new classification of federal employees who do not have the basic protections that ensure federal employees are treated fairly and cannot be fired for political reasons.

AFGE members rally in D.C. in March of 2025. Photo: AFGE

“Federal workers serve the public, not a political agenda,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. “The Trump administration’s Schedule Policy/Career rule is a blatant power grab designed to drive out experts and replace them with loyalists or no one at all, forcing critical work to go undone. This illegal maneuver will only further undermine the essential services federal workers provide. The AFL-CIO is joining this lawsuit because the labor movement is not intimidated by this administration’s union-busting campaign meant to silence workers who refuse to fall in line. We will continue to fight for workers in the courts, on the streets and in the halls of Congress.”

The 2025 executive order is nearly identical to an effort from the first Trump administration (known as Schedule F) and would lay the groundwork to convert a significant percentage of the federal civil service from employees who can only be fired for cause to at-will employees who can be fired for any reason at all. Thousands of employees—including those who protect our public health, the environment and our food and water—who were hired for their expertise and serve in nonpartisan positions could be stripped of vested job protections, in violation of their due process rights and in excess of the president’s constitutional authority.

“This profoundly troubling rule advances efforts by the administration to politicize policymaking by removing scientists and experts and inserting, instead, those who will follow the wishes of political leaders,” said Tim Whitehouse, PEER Executive Director. “It would allow political leaders to reach deep into federal agencies to remove and replace unknown and unheralded civil servants whose work is critical to keeping our country safe but whose viewpoints may run afoul of the prevailing political narrative of the day.”

“If the Schedule Policy/Career rule is allowed to move forward, it will amount to one of the largest acts of political corruption in American history,” said AFGE National President Everett Kelley. “Tens of thousands of experienced, nonpartisan civil servants will be ushered out of government and replaced by political loyalists whose main qualification is their willingness to serve a political agenda rather than the law or the American people. Such a move will supercharge waste, abuse of authority, and retaliation inside our federal agencies, where decisions about who gets help and who gets hurt will be driven by politics, rewarding friends and punishing enemies of the administration in power. AFGE is proud to stand with our allies to fight against this corruption in court.”

“A non-partisan civil service – accountable to everyday Americans – is the lifeblood of our country. To protect our nation’s future, it is urgent that the court reject this administration’s efforts to remake government to serve billionaires at the expense of working families,” said AFSCME President Lee Saunders. “When public service is warped by political loyalty, families are put at risk, public safety is compromised and government struggles to provide the public services that keep our country strong. AFSCME members will continue to stand up and fight for our freedom to do our jobs and serve our communities.”

The case is PEER et. al. v. Trump et. al. and the team at Democracy Forward working on the case includes Mark Samburg, Kevin E. Friedl, Michael Martinez, Webb Lyons, Joel McElvain, and Elena Goldstein. The amended complaint can be found here.