VA Terminates Union Agreements for Over 377,000 Employees
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced Wednesday it has terminated collective bargaining agreements with its major federal employee unions, a move stripping protections from over 377,000 workers, or more than three-quarters of the department’s workforce.
The decision, effective immediately, is a direct consequence of a March executive order that authorized the suspension of collective bargaining at numerous agencies on national security grounds. The VA notified five unions of the immediate termination, including the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the National Association of Government Employees, the National Federation of Federal Employees, the National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United, and the Service Employees International Union. Approximately 4,000 police, firefighters, and security personnel are exempt from the order.
While the executive order cited national security, the VA’s announcement focused on different justifications. Department officials claimed unions “have repeatedly opposed significant, bipartisan VA reforms and rewarded bad employees for misconduct.”
“Too often, unions that represent VA employees fight against the best interests of veterans while protecting and rewarding bad workers,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins in a statement. “We’re making sure VA resources and employees are singularly focused on the job we were sent here to do: providing top-notch care and service to those who wore the uniform.”
The AFGE, which represents 319,000 of the affected VA employees, called the terminations an “outrage.” Everett Kelley, AFGE’s national president, argued the action was retaliation for the union’s advocacy against policies it views as harmful to veterans.
“The real reason Collins wants AFGE out of the VA is because we have successfully fought against disastrous, anti-veteran recommendations… opposed the Trump administration’s plan to dismantle veteran health care… and consistently educated the American people about how private, for-profit veteran healthcare is more expensive and results in worse outcomes for veterans,” Kelley stated.
The contract terminations are proceeding despite ongoing legal challenges. Last week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the administration to move forward by staying a lower court’s ruling. That initial ruling had found the executive order was likely retaliation for the unions’ First Amendment-protected speech, based partly on a White House fact sheet stating the president signed the order because unions were “hostile” to his policies.
However, the appeals court found the president likely would have terminated the contracts regardless of the unions’ activities. “On its face, the order… conveys the President’s determination that the excluded agencies have primary functions implicating national security,” the three-judge panel wrote in its opinion. The court concluded that even if certain statements reflected “a degree of retaliatory animus,” the administration’s focus on national security provided sufficient grounds for the action.
