Presidential Document2025-02729
Limiting Lame-Duck Collective Bargaining Agreements That Improperly Attempt To Constrain the New President
Primary source
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Published
February 14, 2025
Signed
January 31, 2025
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 30 (Friday, February 14, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 30 (Friday, February 14, 2025)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 9581-9582]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-02729]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 30 / Friday, February 14, 2025 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 9581]]
Memorandum of January 31, 2025
Limiting Lame-Duck Collective Bargaining
Agreements That Improperly Attempt To Constrain the New
President
Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and
Agencies
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, including section 7301 of title 5, United
States Code, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Policy and Purpose. In the final days of the
prior administration's tenure, it purposefully
finalized collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) with
Federal employees in an effort to harm my
Administration by extending its wasteful and failing
policies beyond its time in office. For example, the
Department of Education negotiated a CBA on January 17,
2025--3 days before I took office--that generally
prohibits the agency from returning remote employees to
their offices.
Such last-minute, lame-duck CBAs, which purport to bind
a new President to his predecessor's policies, run
counter to America's system of democratic self-
government. CBAs quickly negotiated to include extreme
policies on the eve of a new administration are
purposefully designed to circumvent the will of the
people and our democracy. Such CBAs inhibit the
President's authority to manage the executive branch by
tying his hands with inefficient and ineffective
practices. The Supreme Court has explained that a
President ``cannot choose to bind his successors by
diminishing their powers.''
Therefore, it is the policy of the executive branch
that CBAs executed in the 30 days prior to the
inauguration of a new President, and that purport to
remain in effect despite the inauguration of a new
President and administration, shall not be approved.
Sec. 2. Standards for CBA Duration. (a) No executive
department or agency (agency) or agency employees shall
make a CBA governing conditions of employment in the 30
days prior to a change in Presidential administrations
that:
(i) creates new contractual obligations;
(ii) makes substantive changes to existing agreements; or
(iii) extends the duration of an existing agreement.
(b) Subsection (a) of this section applies only to
the extent that its requirements do not prevent CBAs
from rolling over under existing contractual
provisions.
(c) To the extent that subordinate agency personnel
have executed a CBA that violates the requirements of
subsection (a) of this section, but the applicable
agency head has not yet approved such agreement
pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 7114(c), such agency head shall
promptly disapprove such agreement as inconsistent with
the requirements of this memorandum.
(d) The requirements of this section do not apply
to CBAs that primarily cover law enforcement officers,
as that term is used in 18 U.S.C. 1515(a)(4).
Sec. 3. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this
memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise
affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the
head thereof; or
[[Page 9582]]
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent
with applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.
(c) If the Federal Labor Relations Authority or a
court of competent jurisdiction issues a final judgment
holding that section 2(d) of this memorandum would
prevent this memorandum from being considered a
Government-wide rule or regulation for purposes of 5
U.S.C. 7117(a)(1), section 2(d) of this memorandum
shall be severed and rendered inoperative thereby and
given no force or effect.
(d) This memorandum is not intended to, and does
not, create any right or benefit, substantive or
procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any
party against the United States, its departments,
agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or
agents, or any other person.
(e) The Director of the Office of Personnel
Management is authorized and directed to publish this
memorandum in the Federal Register.
<GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
Washington, January 31, 2025
[FR Doc. 2025-02729
Filed 2-13-25; 8:45 am]
Billing code 6325-39-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on February 14, 2025.
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