VA terminates key union contracts [View all]

Source: CNN Politics

PUBLISHED Aug 6, 2025, 9:09 PM ET


Washington — The Department of Veterans Affairs is terminating collective bargaining agreements with several key government unions representing its employees. In an announcement Wednesday, the VA said the move is in response to an executive order President Donald Trump signed in March that nixed collective bargaining rights for many federal workers in the name of national security.

The agency’s decision comes after a federal appellate court lifted a lower court ban on the ending of union contracts on Friday, although the Trump administration previously issued guidance that agencies should not terminate any collective bargaining agreements until litigation challenging the order is over.

“Too often, unions that represent VA employees fight against the best interests of Veterans while protecting and rewarding bad workers,” VA Secretary Doug Collins said 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 VA said it notified five major unions that their contracts for “bargaining-unit employees” were being terminated: the American Federation of Government Employees; 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. Contracts covering the roughly 4,000 VA police officers, firefighters or security guards represented by those unions will remain in place, the agency said.

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