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Washington, D.C. – The list of lawmakers urging the president to rescind three executive orders attacking federal employees is growing.

A new letter signed by 45 Democratic U.S. Senators says the May 25 orders undermine the foundations of our civil service system.

“It is time to stop the attacks on our federal workers,” the letter states. “These are also attacks on our veterans, who make up roughly one-third of the federal civilian workforce. We need to keep politics out of the civil service, and we urge you to reconsider these executive orders.”

Last week, 22 House Republicans and all Democratic House leaders, in separate letters, also asked President Trump to rescind the orders.

“The National Treasury Employees Union applauds these members of Congress for boldly defending the men and women of the civil service,” NTEU National President Tony Reardon said. “While we continue to fight these unlawful orders in court, it helps to know we have strong allies on Capitol Hill who are equally interested in protecting the right of federal workers to be treated with dignity and respect.”

The senators’ letter rightly describes the threats that the executive orders pose, including making it harder to resolve disputes in the workplace and root out waste, fraud and abuse.

NTEU believes that these executive orders – limiting the use of official time, weakening due process, and restricting collective bargaining – do not override existing contracts and the union will oppose efforts to reopen contracts earlier than scheduled. There are already signs, however, that some agencies are trying to implement these orders immediately, even if they conflict with current laws governing labor-management relations in the federal government.

“At a minimum, we hope you will ensure that managers at federal agencies do not use these executive orders inappropriately to circumvent existing collective bargaining agreements between agencies and federal workers,” the senators wrote.

NTEU represents 150,000 employees at 32 federal agencies and departments.