In today’s news and commentary, a federal judge blocks the Trump administration’s efforts to cancel the collective bargaining rights of workers at the U.S. Agency for Global Media; Representative Jared Golden secures 218 signatures for a bill that would repeal a Trump administration executive order stripping federal workers of their collective bargaining rights; and Dallas residents sue the City of Dallas in hopes of declaring hundreds of ordinances that ban bias against LGBTQ+ individuals void.  

On November 14^th, Judge Paul Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to cancel the collective bargaining rights of workers at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which houses the Voice of America. Judge Friedman ruled that the cancellation of the agency’s collective bargaining rights constituted unlawful retaliation against the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). The Agency for Global Media initially sued because they were included in an executive order which would have exempted them from statutory labor protections. In a statement, the AFSCME President, Lee Saunders, stated, “We’ll continue to fight for the collective bargaining rights of our members against an administration determined to strip them away.”

Meanwhile, Representative Jared Golden has secured 218 signatures on a bipartisan bill, The Protect America’s Workforce Act of 2025, that would repeal a Trump administration executive order that strips federal workers of their collective bargaining rights. In June, Golden launched a discharge petition for the bill, which means that if a majority of Congress signs the bill, the House is forced to vote on it. If the bill passes, it would nullify President Trump’s March 27^th Executive Order would end collective bargaining rights for over one million unionized federal employees. The bill has received support from several unions, including the AFL-CIO, AFGE, SEIU, and AFT. 

Lastly, three Dallas residents sued the City of Dallas in Denton County District Court, asking the court to declare nearly a hundred ordinances that ban bias against LGBTQ+ individuals in employment, housing, and public accommodations void. They argue that these ordinances violate a state law, known as the “Death Star.” The law makes it illegal for cities and counties to enact local laws that go beyond state law. State lawmakers passed the Death Star as a mechanism to undo a “patchwork” of local regulations that GOP legislators argued harmed the state’s economic growth. The question is one of preemption, as the court must determine whether the state law preempts the application of the local ordinances.