RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Virginia lawmakers are voicing their opinions on President Donald Trump's recent executive order ending collective bargaining rights for many federal workers. On Thursday, March 28, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) said President Trump signed an executive order limit ing numerous agency employees from unionizing and instructing the government to pause any collective bargaining rights -- outraging many Virginia Democratic lawmakers. In a fact sheet accompanying the OPM memo, the White House claims that the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 gives the president the authority to stop collective bargaining at agencies with national security missions. The OPM memo also says “agencies should cease participating in grievance procedures after terminating their CBA,” an abbreviation for collective bargaining agreements. “This is just another attempt by President Trump to ‘traumatize’ and illegally fire federal workers," said U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner, Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) in a joint statement. This latest executive order is reportedly part of a broader campaign to reshape the U.S. government's workforce. "Collective bargaining makes the federal workforce stronger, and undermining these rights does nothing to improve our national security," Warner and Kaine added. "In fact, this order will only make us less safe, as this executive order is only Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s latest gambit to make it easier to fire the people who ensure public safety, prepare for pandemics, respond to natural disasters, and much, much more. This political attack on our civil servants must not stand.” Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03), the Ranking Member of the Committee on Education and Workforce, and Congressman Gerald E. Connolly (VA-11), the Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said this is an example of the Trump-Musk Administration’s war on working people. “These two billionaires busted unions in their day jobs and now they’re bringing these same attacks to our government in the biggest presidential attack on unions in history," they said "Since the enactment of the National Labor Relations Act nearly 90 years ago, workers have been empowered to come together and form unions to win higher pay, better safety standards, and claim a voice in their workplaces as they protect workers from abuse and misuse by unscrupulous employers." The National Labor Relations Act, also known as the Wagner Act, was passed in 1935 and guarantees private sector employees the right "to organize, form unions, and engage in collective bargaining." “President Trump’s brazen attempt to strip the majority of federal employees of their union rights robs these workers of their hard-fought protections," they added. "This will only give Elon Musk more power to dismantle the people’s government with as little resistance from dedicated civil servants as possible—further weakening the federal government’s ability to serve the American people.  The United States government was built to be by the people for the people – not by billionaires for other billionaires.” 8News has reached out to Congresswoman Jen Kiggans (Va.-02) and Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) of the Commonwealth’s ninth district, but they did not respond as of the time of reporting. ...read more read less