Washington — A federal judge on Thursday allowed President Trump’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce to continue moving forward while legal proceedings continue, declining a request from a group of labor unions to temporarily block his firing of federal employees and other actions targeting government workers.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, who sits on the federal district court in Washington, D.C., said in a 16-page decision that he had to deny the unions’ request for relief because he lacks jurisdiction over the claims. The judge, appointed by former President Barack Obama, said the unions must pursue their legal challenges through the scheme established by Congress in the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute, which governs labor relations in the federal workforce.

The five unions, which represent federal workers, had asked Cooper to issue an order that temporarily prevented the termination of members who are probationary employees; implementation of large-scale reductions in force throughout the government; and a renewal of the president’s “deferred resignation program.”

That program offered federal workers the chance to resign their positions but retain full pay and benefits until Sept. 30. The deadline for employees to accept the offer was Feb. 12, and roughly 75,000 federal workers agreed to the program, according to the White House.

The unions argued that the president’s three initiatives — firing of probationary employees, deferred resignation program and planned large-scale reductions in force — violate the separation of powers and federal law.