Revocation of Executive Order Creating Labor- Management Forums

This executive order revokes a 2009 Obama-era order that created the National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations and agency-level labor-management forums, which were intended to promote collaboration between federal management and unions. The Trump administration cited inefficient use of taxpayer dollars and managerial time as justification, and directed agencies to promptly rescind all implementing rules and policies.

Federal Register Open PDF 82 FR 46367

Impact dates

Date TBD
OPM and agency heads to promptly rescind implementing orders, rules, regulations, guidelines, programs, or policies

Key directives

Revoke Executive Order 13522 of December 9, 2009 (as extended by EO 13708)
Director of OPM and agency heads shall 'promptly move to rescind' all implementing orders, rules, regulations, guidelines, programs, or policies
Preserve existing collective bargaining agreements

Who is ordered

Timeline

Immediate

Revocation of Executive Order 13522 takes effect
National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations dissolved
Agency-level labor-management forums discontinued

Near term (90d)

OPM and agency heads to 'promptly' rescind orders, rules, regulations, guidelines, programs, or policies implementing EO 13522

Long term

Potential shift in federal labor relations toward more traditional adversarial model
Reduced formal structure for pre-decisional employee input in agency policymaking

Risks & tensions

'Promptly' is vague—no fixed deadline for rescission, creating implementation uncertainty
Potential tension with federal employee unions over loss of formal collaboration channels
Section 3(a) preserves collective bargaining agreements but forums operated outside CBAs, so scope of protection unclear
Risk of legal challenge from unions arguing procedural rights were established under prior EO
Tension between efficiency claims and potential loss of employee input affecting service delivery quality