This article originally appeared in City Journal March 24, 2025.

The Department of Government Efficiency is providing a public service—though not only in the way its supporters intend. In its push to streamline the bureaucracy, DOGE has sent federal unions into a frenzy of opposition, underscoring the need for a long-overdue reform: ending collective bargaining for federal employees.

Federal unions have fought DOGE’s right-sizing efforts at every turn. They have discouraged workers from accepting the Trump administration’s buyout offers, led protests against agency workforce reductions, and filed lawsuits to block DOGE’s actions. Their goal is simple: to preserve an unsustainable status quo, in which unelected bureaucrats wield power over ordinary Americans.

Even if the Trump administration prevails against the unions in court, however, its victories could be undone by a future White House. The most effective way permanently to curb public union power in Washington—and restore accountability in the bureaucracy—is for Congress to repeal federal employees’ collective-bargaining rights.

Consider the relevant history. Federal employees’ first gained these rights in 1962 through an executive order issued by President John F. Kennedy. In 1978, Congress passed a law codifying them, affirming the “right of Federal employees to organize, bargain collectively, and participate through labor organizations in decisions which affect them.”

The Trump administration is trying to use executive power to implement the necessary reforms. On March 7, for example, the Department of Homeland Security ended collective bargaining at the Transportation Security Administration. Such efforts could easily be frustrated by the courts, and the only sure-fire solution is for Congress to repeal the 1978 statute.

To that end, Trump should push the GOP-controlled House and Senate to pass legislation banning federal workers from collectively bargaining. He and other leaders should frame that policy as a way to save taxpayers’ money. As the Institute for the American Worker has shown, the collective-bargaining process costs taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars yearly.

Trump wouldn’t be the first president to oppose federal collective bargaining. Even liberal icon Franklin Delano Roosevelt rejected the practice, arguing that it made government less accountable. He was right. When federal unions negotiate with agencies, the taxpayers who fund them have no voice.

Repealing collective-bargaining rights would help restore that voice. While public unions claim the change would leave workers powerless, that’s simply not true. Federal employees would still be free to negotiate their own contracts instead of being locked into one-size-fits-all union demands—something unions are determined to protect.

The unions’ resistance to DOGE’s cost-cutting efforts only underscores the need for reform. If Elon Musk’s clash with unions helps bring about the repeal of federal collective-bargaining rights, he will have done taxpayers a lasting service.

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