Bill to Restore Federal Workers’ Union Rights Heads to House for Vote

Legislation that would repeal an executive order stripping roughly 1 million federal workers of their collective bargaining rights is now “on track for a vote in the House,” according to one of the bill’s co-sponsors.

Congressman Jared Golden recently announced that his colleagues Nick LaLota and Mike Lawler have signed a discharge petition that would force House action on the Protect America’s Workforce Act of 2025. With LaLota and Lawler on board, the petition now has 218 signatures, the number required to allow a majority of the House to compel a vote on legislation if a majority of Congress has signed it.

“America never voted to eliminate workers’ union rights, and the strong bipartisan support for my bill shows that Congress will not stand idly by while President Trump nullifies federal workers’ collective bargaining agreements and rolls back generations of labor law,” Golden said, in a statement.

“I’m grateful to Reps. LaLota and Lawler for bringing this discharge petition over the finish line, and I’m calling on Speaker Mike Johnson to schedule a clean, up-or-down vote on this bill.”

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) described reaching the 218-signature threshold that ensures the bill’s advancement a “rare and powerful moment of bipartisan unity in defense of the nonpartisan civil service.”

In a Nov. 17 statement, AFGE National President Everett Kelley praised the achievement.

“An independent, apolitical civil service is one of the bedrocks of American democracy,” said Kelley. “Today, lawmakers stood up together to defend that principle and to affirm that federal workers must retain their right to collective bargaining. This is what leadership looks like.”