Trump Executive Order Strips Union Rights from 1,000+ Federal Workers in West Virginia

Over 1,000 federal workers in Parkersburg, West Virginia woke up one day to find their union protections stripped away -- not through legislation, not through negotiation, but by presidential decree.

Executive Order 14251, signed by President Donald Trump in March 2025, invoked a national security provision buried in the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act to eliminate collective bargaining rights for workers at more than 40 federal agencies. Among them: the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which employs more than 1,000 people in Parkersburg.

The justification? National security. The reality? An administration using executive power to dismantle worker protections that have existed for decades.

Union Office Shuttered, Grievance Process Gutted

Eric Engle, a local union steward with the National Treasury Employees Union, described the aftermath as devastating. The union office was cleared out. The grievance process that once gave workers real recourse was frozen, replaced with a toothless administrative process that leaves employees on their own.

"It's handled differently than a union grievance," Engle told WTAP. "It really just doesn't have that same effect. You don't have a union representative backing you. It's really all on the shoulders of the employees to pursue an administrative grievance. And then decisions are final and binding."

Translation: workers lost the ability to challenge unfair treatment with any real leverage.

The order also eliminated telework rights and alternative work schedules -- benefits that were once guaranteed by federal law. Payroll dues collection was cut off, forcing the union to scramble to develop an alternative system.

Union officials like Engle can no longer even meet with employees who need advice while on the clock. "We can't even go meet with someone who wants a little advice from the union if we're on the clock," he said.

"Law After Law, Statute After Statute, Being Violated"

Engle did not mince words about what he sees happening: "We're seeing law after law, statute after statute, being violated by this president, by the Office of Personnel Management, by the Office of Management and Budget."

The executive order has been challenged in federal court. A district court judge initially blocked it, but an appeals court panel lifted that injunction. The order remains in effect as litigation continues.

In February, the Bureau of the Fiscal Service moved to terminate its collective bargaining agreement with the National Treasury Employees Union entirely. NTEU national president Doreen Greenwald challenged the termination as unlawful, arguing in a letter to BFS Chief Administrative Officer Amanda Kupfner that "BFS cannot lawfully terminate its CBA with NTEU because NTEU remains the exclusive representative of its bargaining unit employees."

That case is still pending in federal court. The Department of the Treasury did not respond to a request for comment.

Workers Fleeing "The Best Jobs in the Mid-Ohio Valley"

The human cost is already visible. Engle said many workers have taken deferred resignations, early retirements, or left the Bureau of the Fiscal Service for other employment.

"These were the best jobs, arguably the best jobs, in the mid-Ohio Valley for decades," Engle said. "I certainly felt that way when I got mine 12 years ago. And that I can honestly say is not the case anymore. And that's very devastating."

This is the pattern: invoke "national security" to bypass democratic processes. Strip protections. Ignore the courts when they push back. Wait for appeals. Move on to the next target.

The workers in Parkersburg are not abstract policy debates. They are people who showed up to work one day and found their rights eliminated by executive fiat -- a preview of what happens when an administration decides laws and norms are optional.