The Trump administration must continue to recognize foreign service employees’ union rights while it appeals a federal court order.

Judge Paul Friedman of the US District Court for the District of Columbia denied on Tuesday the government’s bid to stay his May 15 preliminary injunction , which temporarily barred the State Department and the US Agency for International Development from stripping employees of their collective bargaining rights.

The government failed to show that it could win its case on the merits and couldn’t show irreparable harm from continuing to recognize the American Foreign Service Association and uphold its labor pacts, ...