Trump Guts BOP Guard Union
An executive order signed by Pres. Donald J. Trump (R) on March 27, 2025, stripped collective bargaining rights from federal unions, including those representing guards working for the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP).
The guards had already lost most or all of their incentive pay bonuses, which added up to 25% to their paychecks to keep them employed at the critically short-staffed agency, as PLN reported. [See: PLN, Apr. 2025, p.51.] The latest move means that their union, the American Federal Government Employees Council 33, no longer has authority to engage in collective bargaining on their behalf to fight the pay cuts—or any other action by BOP management.
Trump fired former Director Collette Peters upon taking office in January 2025, and her replacement, former Acting Director William Lathrop, retired the following month, leaving the agency “rudderless,” Peters lamented. A new BOP director, William Marshall, has since been appointed. [See: PLN, May 2025, p.56.]
Citing the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, the President’s latest order excluded the federal Department of Justice (DOJ)—of which the BOP is a part—from the Federal Labor-Management Relations Program. An accompanying fact sheet said the order was targeted at unions that have “declared war on President Trump’s agenda.”
Responding to Trump’s “disgraceful and retaliatory attack on the rights of hundreds of thousands of patriotic American civil servants—nearly one-third of whom are veterans,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley vowed to fight the White House in federal court.
Sources: CNN, Federal News Network, Forbes
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