Veterans’ Affairs Drops Recognition of Largest Worker Union (1)

The Department of Veterans Affairs will no longer recognize or negotiate with the union representing over 320,000 employees, escalating the administration’s battle over workers’ collective bargaining rights.

VA Secretary Doug Collins notified the American Federation of Government Employees that he was terminating the parties’ master collective bargaining agreement, the union said in a statement Wednesday.

The move comes as the administration continues to litigate over a March executive order by President Donald Trump that stripped labor rights from two-thirds of the federal workforce. The AFGE, along with several other unions, sued the government over the order, accusing it of violating the First Amendment.

Collins’ order pertains to all AFGE-represented workers except for police officers, firefighters, and security guards, the AFGE said. The union said Wednesday it is assessing its options to oppose the decision.

The decision “is another clear example of retaliation against AFGE members for speaking out against the illegal, anti-worker, and anti-veteran policies of this administration,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a statement Wednesday. “We don’t apologize for protecting veteran healthcare and will continue to fight for our members and the veterans they care for.”

The VA released a statement claiming the move will make it easier to “promote high-performing employees, hold poor performers accountable, and improve benefits and services,” to veterans.

Without the burden of collective bargaining obligations, the VA will have more office space and staff will spend more time with veterans, the agency claims.

The VA said 1,900 bargaining unit employees spent more than 750,000 hours of work on “taxpayer funded union time.”

In the battle over workers’ collective bargaining rights, three district judges have ordered preliminary injunctions halting Trump’s EO, but federal appeals panels in Washington and the Ninth Circuit have stayed those rulings pending appeal. Workers’ unions are also struggling to get remedial relief from internal oversight bodies like the Federal Labor Relations Authority.