A federal judge has denied federal labor unions’ request to temporarily block the Trump administration from carrying out mass firing of probationary employees and deferred resignation offers, saying the court “likely lacks subject matter jurisdiction” over the matter.

Instead, Judge Christopher Cooper, overseeing the matter, wrote in his ruling that the matter should be brought before the Federal Labor Relations Authority.

“The Court will now deny the motion because it likely lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the unions’ claims,” the judge wrote.

“They must pursue their challenges instead through the scheme established by Congress in the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (‘FSLMRS’), which provides for administrative review by the Federal Labor Relations Authority (‘FLRA’) in the first instance, followed by judicial review in the courts of appeals,” he added.

The ruling comes after a status hearing on Tuesday in which the judge questioned the plaintiffs, which consisted of five federal unions, including the National Treasury Employees Union, about why they would bring the case before the court instead of going to the FLRA.