Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, LABOR NEWS—Discharge petition seeks House vote to protect union rights of federal workforce, (Jul 24, 2025)
Organizations Mentioned:AFL-CIO
By Patricia K. Ruiz, J.D.
The discharge petition needs signatures from 218 members of Congress.
A coalition of lawmakers and labor leaders are petitioning for immediate congressional action to restore union rights for nearly one million federal workers. The discharge petition seeks to force a House vote on the Protect America’s Workforce Act (H.R. 2550), a bipartisan bill to overturn an executive order attempting to strip union rights from roughly 75 percent of the federal workforce, according to a press release by the AFGE.
Protect America’s Workforce Act. H.R. 2550 would reverse the EO’s attempt at union-busting and restore collective bargaining rights to affected workers. The bill has bipartisan support, and a majority of House members have signed on as co-sponsors. To force action on the bill, the coalition is utilizing a discharge petition, which is a procedural tool allowing a majority of House members (218 members) to bypass committee leadership and bring a bill directly to the floor for a vote.
Discharge petition. In an op-ed, Congressman Jared Golden said, “This executive order is no small thing: Presidents from both parties have for decades upheld federal workers’ collective bargaining rights. President Trump’s order means federal employees lose vital protections from retaliation and political interference. It makes it easier to degrade working conditions, fire workers, and silence whistleblowers.” H.R. 2550 has more cosponsors than any other piece of legislation introduced by a Democrat in Congress, with 222 members of Congress having signed onto the bill. Golden said, “We have the votes. We are asking members to demand the majority leadership give us the opportunity to cast them.”
AFL-CIO emphasized in a press release that “we need every single member of Congress who says they support America’s unions to sign that discharge petition right now.” It urged members of the public to call their member of Congress to urge them to sign the discharge petition.
News: LaborNews FederalLegislation Labor PublicEmployees UnionsMembers