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More than 400,000 employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) have lost collective bargaining protections, after the agency moved to implement a Trump-era directive despite previously telling a federal court it would wait for legal resolution.
The VA confirmed it has stripped labor protections from the majority of its workforce, most of whom are represented by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest union for federal workers. The agency’s decision follows a ruling from the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that approved an executive order from Trump, instructing federal agencies to end collective bargaining agreements.
VA pushes forward despite court assurance
The appeals court had allowed the order to move forward based in part on the administration’s claim that agencies would not act until litigation had concluded. The judges noted that the assurance reduced the potential for harm to unions and their members. Two of the judges on the panel were appointed by Trump, and one by former President Obama.
Despite this assurance, the VA terminated the 308-page agreement that had governed labor relations with AFGE. The contract had previously given employees the right to neutral arbitration in workplace disputes and allowed union stewards and officials time for negotiations and casework.
Doug Collins, head of the VA, released a statement asserting that the unions "fight against the best interests of veterans while protecting and rewarding bad workers."
Union backlash and legal confusion
AFGE president Everett Kelley described the VA’s decision as “another clear example of retaliation” against unions that opposed Trump’s federal workforce reforms. He accused Collins of “rip[ping] up the negotiated union contract” for most of the agency’s workforce.
Eric L. Pines, a lawyer representing several local union branches and VA employees, expressed surprise at the move. “That’s how shocking this is, to everyone involved - the agency, too,” Pines said.
“The agency was making arguments to the arbitrator as if they still had to make arguments to the arbitrator.”
The order, originally justified on national security grounds, was contested by unions as retaliation for legal opposition to Trump policies. They also argued that departments without national security portfolios, such as the Department of Health and Human Services and the Environmental Protection Agency, were unfairly targeted as part of a broader effort to strip unions of power.
The VA’s decision represents one of the most extensive labor rollbacks for federal workers in recent years.
