More than 30,000 federal correctional officers and support staff are the latest casualties of the Trump administration’s unrelenting efforts to strip federal workers of their collective bargaining rights.
On Sept. 25, Federal Bureau of Prisons Director William Marshall notified AFGE’s Council of Prison Locals that he was terminating the collective bargaining agreement covering the more than 30,000 agency employees nationwide represented by our union, effective immediately. BOP workers were included in President Trump’s March executive order stripping more than 1 million federal workers of their collective bargaining rights, but the agency had not terminated its collective bargaining agreement until now.
Council of Prison Locals President Brandy Moore White strongly condemned the action.
“This is not just an attack on our union — it is an attack on every federal employee who serves this country with dedication and sacrifice. The Collective Bargaining Agreement is the foundation that ensures fair treatment, workplace protections, and a voice for our staff. Removing it undermines the very principles of fairness and democracy in the workplace,” Moore White said.
The CBA has provided critical protections for employees, including safeguards against unsafe working conditions, unfair discipline, and staffing shortages that put both workers and the public at risk. Without it, employees will lose essential rights that allow them to address issues like forced overtime, inadequate resources, and threats to safety among many other things.
“Don't be fooled, this is not about efficiency or accountability — this is about silencing our voice,” Moore White said. “We will not stand by while the rights of our members are stripped away. We are prepared to take every legal and legislative action necessary to protect our contract and the employees who put their lives on the line every day.”
AFGE National President Everett Kelley called the administration’s targeting of correctional officers and staff “deplorable.”
“President Trump is leading an unprecedented assault on the collective bargaining rights of more than a million American citizens who have devoted their careers to public service. His administration has terminated collective bargaining agreements covering the doctors and nurses who care for our veterans, the USDA inspectors who ensure our food is safe to eat, the FEMA specialists who are first on the ground when a natural disaster strikes, the journalists who provide independent reporting to citizens living in oppressive nations, and now the law enforcement officers and staff who oversee federal inmates,” Kelley said.
“Stripping federal correctional officers and other BOP employees of their union contract will make it that much harder for them to highlight and address the staffing shortages, workplace dangers, and other issues that they face on a daily basis.”
Correctional officers and staff at the Bureau of Prisons are being treated differently than federal law enforcement officers at other agencies who have been excluded from President Trump’s union-busting orders, leaving them without the same protections and bargaining rights as their counterparts in other law enforcement agencies, said Albert Maresca Jr., vice president of legislative affairs at the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, in a Sept. 9 letter to President Trump.
“Federal correctional officers face some of the most dangerous conditions in public service. Every day they work in high-risk environments where threats are constant and unpredictable,” Maresca wrote. “Their ability to collectively bargain is not just a matter of fairness – it is essential to their safety, morale, and the effective operation of our correctional institutions. Ensuring these officers have a voice in workplace matters builds trust, fosters cooperation, and strengthens their ability to carry out their mission.”
The Council of Prison Locals is calling on members of Congress, community leaders, and the public to stand with federal workers against these unprecedented attacks on collective bargaining rights and to protect the rights, safety, and well-being of our members while ensuring fair and just working conditions across the federal system.
AFGE encourages its members to call their members of Congress and make sure they have sponsored the Protect America’s Workforce Act, which would reverse Trump’s illegal directives stripping collective bargaining rights from BOP workers and most federal employees.
Since taking office in January 2025, President Trump has issued a series of unlawful executive orders, and taken several unlawful actions, seeking to shut down congressionally mandated agencies, fire and displace federal workers, outlaw their unions, and gut merit systems protections.
Read More
A federal judge has ordered the Department of Veterans Affairs to reinstate the union contract covering 320,000 VA employees represented by AFGE in a major victory over the implementation of President Trump’s union-busting executive orders.
Read More
As the Department of Homeland Security shutdown reaches the one-month mark with no end in sight, AFGE leaders are calling on Congress to ensure all DHS workers are paid.
Read More
