The Metal Trades Department, AFL-CIO, strongly condemns the Trump Administration’s decision to revoke the Biden-era Executive Order that guaranteed qualified workers a right of first refusal when federal service contracts change hands, and its directive requiring federal agencies to immediately implement that revocation.
This Executive Order established a commonsense protection ensuring that experienced, qualified workers had the opportunity to continue performing their jobs when contracts were rebid or transferred. The right of first refusal helped maintain continuity of operations, upheld safety and quality standards, and prevented contractors from displacing skilled workers simply to cut labor costs.
By revoking this Executive Order—and directing the Department of Labor to issue a final rule rescinding the regulations adopted under its authority—the Administration is stripping away basic job protections for workers who perform essential services across federal facilities.
For Metal Trades workers engaged in highly skilled, mission-critical federal service work, this decision introduces unnecessary instability and invites a race to the bottom in wages, benefits, and working conditions. It weakens accountability, erodes institutional knowledge, and threatens the operational readiness federal agencies rely upon to carry out their missions safely and effectively.
Federal contracting policy should reward experience, performance, and responsibility—not incentivize turnover and job insecurity at the expense of workers and taxpayers alike. Eliminating the right of first refusal moves federal contracting in exactly the wrong direction.
The Metal Trades Department urges Congress and federal agencies to reject policies that undermine skilled workforces and to restore strong right-of-first-refusal protections that respect workers, protect public investments, and preserve the integrity of federal service contracting.
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