The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced Aug. 6 that it’s terminating the union contracts of hundreds of thousands of VA workers.
The move is the latest to follow from a March 2025 executive order issued by President Donald Trump that makes unprecedented use of a national security provision of the Civil Service Reform Act. By declaring that agencies work serves national security functions, the president can eliminate collective bargaining rights for employees.
In the case of the Veterans Affairs department, employees being stripped of union recognition and rights include nurses, technical staff, food service workers, and janitors.
To reinforce the policy shift, the VA also halted automatic union dues deductions from employees’ paychecks.
It’s another major blow to the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), though in recent months the union has encouraged members to sign up to pay dues outside the government payroll system.
“Every American who cares about the fundamental freedoms of working people should be outraged by this attack on workers’ ability to speak out and stand up at the VA,” said AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler in a press statement responding to the announcement. “This union-busting decision is an ambush on the people who care for our country’s veterans and their right to stand together in a union, and will without a doubt harm the lifesaving services veterans desperately need.”
