The Trump administration has terminated collective bargaining agreements with two unions representing several hundred workers at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, according to labor leaders.
One of the unions affected is the American Federation of Government Employees. National vice president David Gonzalez said the move leaves workers more vulnerable.
"Because now they have no safeguards in the workplace," Gonzalez said. "They have no voice in the workplace. When you take away collective bargaining, there's no grievance process."
He said the union is considering a legal challenge after winning court injunctions to protect other groups of federal workers from similar actions.
The terminations stem from two executive orders issued by Trump last year stripping collective bargaining rights from federal workers in multiple agencies, citing national security.
But Alana Schaeffer, president of the Portsmouth Metal Trades Council, said undermining worker stability ultimately hurts national security.
Schaeffer said her union's bargaining agreement is shielded for now by a court injunction, but that it's still unnerving workers.
"It puts that level of anxiety where, you know, our workers don't know if they're going to wake up tomorrow and they're going to have also lost their rights," Schaeffer said.
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