Veterans Affairs department ends collective bargaining in response to Trump executive order

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has terminated collective bargaining agreements for most bargaining-unit employees, the agency announced today in a press release.

According to the release, the termination will make it easier for VA leaders to promote high-performing employees, hold poor performers accountable and improve benefits and services for American veterans.

The VA’s decision comes after an executive order from President Donald Trump to exclude certain federal agencies from labor-management relations programs. The VA stopped withholding union dues from employee paychecks in April 2025, in accordance with the order.

“Too often, unions that represent VA employees fight against the best interests of veterans while protecting and rewarding bad workers. 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,” VA Secretary Doug Collins said in the press release.

The VA contacted the American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO (AFGE), National Association of Government Employees (NAGE), National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) about the termination. The same unions will continue to hold contracts for approximately 4,000 VA police officers, firefighters and security guards, which are exempt from the executive order.

The VA said the termination is good for veterans, families, caregivers and survivors because staff will be able to spend more time with veterans. Last year, more than 1,900 VA bargaining-unit employees spent more than 750,000 hours of work on taxpayer funds involved in union activities.

VA facilities will not have to host unions free of charge, just focus on treating veterans. Providing clinical space for unions has cost millions of dollars in rent and expenses with government phones and computer equipment.

Veterans’ needs will be the focus on the VA, not union demands. Labor contracts restricted the ability of managers to hire, promote or reward high-performing employees, hold poor performers accountable and implement reforms to better serve America‘s veterans.

According to the VA, AFGE, NFFE and NNOC/NNU opposed the MISSION Act, a law enacted in 2018 to improve veterans care by allowing them to go to community partners, including telehealth services. NFFE supports rescinding the VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act, which was designed to protect whistleblowers and hold employees accountable for misconduct. AFGE worked with the Biden Administration to rehire more than 100 former employees who were fired during Trump’s first term in office and another 1,700 former employees also fired during his first term.