In a major win for thousands of workers facing termination during the government shutdown, AFGE and other unions secured a preliminary injunction from a federal court in California that will prevent the administration from firing federal workers because of the government shutdown.
During a hearing Oct. 28 before Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, attorneys for the unions argued that the administration violated the law by threatening to fire federal workers furloughed because of the shutdown and ordering employees to work unpaid during the shutdown to carry out the mass terminations. The unions are represented by Altshuler Berzon LLP, Democracy Defenders Fund, and Democracy Forward.
Judge Illston granted the unions’ request for a preliminary injunction that will prevent the administration from issuing reductions-in-force or implementing those already filed during the shutdown. The injunction continues the temporary restraining order the judge previously issued.
“President Trump is using the government shutdown as a pretense to illegally fire thousands of federal workers – specifically those employees carrying out programs and policies that the administration finds objectionable. We thank the court for keeping in place its order preventing the administration from firing workers due to the shutdown while we continue our litigation in court,” AFGE President Everett Kelley said.
AFGE and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) initially filed the lawsuit on Sept. 30. The lawsuit has since been expanded to include employees represented by the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), the National Association of Government Employees (NAGE), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE).
Every Cabinet department and 24 independent agencies are included in the lawsuit. Programs, projects, or activities (PPAs) that include any bargaining unit or member represented by a plaintiff union within these agencies are covered by the lawsuit.
Click here for the latest updates on our legal challenges against the Trump administration.
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