VA Secretary Collins terminated collective bargaining for 80% of VA's 400,000-person workforce

On August 6, 2025, VA Secretary Doug Collins terminated the Department of Veterans Affairs' collective bargaining agreements with most of its federal unions — including AFGE, NAGE, NFFE, NNOC/NNU, and SEIU — stripping roughly 80% of the agency's 400,000-person workforce of collectively bargained workplace protections. The VA acted under Trump's March 2025 executive order declaring union contracts at major agencies a national security threat, and did so while appearing to disregard OPM guidance on implementation.

Congress established federal employees' right to collectively bargain under the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (5 U.S.C. §§ 7101-7135). Eliminating those rights required an act of Congress — not an executive order. The VA's decision to disregard OPM's own implementation guidance suggests the action exceeded even the EO's stated authority. Government Executive reported that the VA's own internal data showed its staffing shortage more than doubled in the months following the elimination of union recognition.

The VA's action was the first in a documented rolling campaign of union de-recognition across the federal government: the EPA followed on August 8, HHS terminated agreements at CDC and FDA on August 22, and EO 14343 extended the de-recognition campaign to NASA, the National Weather Service, and the Patent and Trademark Office on August 28. The pattern illustrates a coordinated executive strategy to eliminate congressionally-established workplace protections through unilateral action rather than through the legislature that created them.

Updates

2026-03-13 — Federal judge ordered VA to restore collective bargaining agreement [3, 4]

U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose granted a preliminary injunction ordering the VA to restore its collective bargaining agreement with the National VA Council of AFGE, finding the termination likely violated the First Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act; the ruling restored union protections, including grievance procedures and wage negotiations, for more than 300,000 VA employees while the case proceeds.