Trump's environment agency terminates contract with unionized employees

By Courtney Rozen and Valerie Volcovici

WASHINGTON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency moved to end its contract with unionized employees, according to the union's president, the latest action in President Donald Trump’s push to weaken collective bargaining across the federal government.

The union, which represents 8,000 EPA employees, is planning a legal response to the decision, said Justin Chen, president of the agency's chapter of the American Federation of Government Employees, in a statement on Friday.

The decision gets Trump closer to his goal to strip hundreds of thousands of federal workers of the ability to collectively bargain with U.S. agencies. Eliminating union deals would allow agencies to more easily fire or discipline employees, according to attorneys representing federal workers.

"EPA is working to diligently implement President Trump's Executive Orders with respect to AFGE, including 'Exclusions from Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs', in compliance with the law," an EPA spokesperson said in a statement, referring to the executive order Trump issued in March.

The order involves removing collective bargaining rights at more than 30 federal agencies, including the EPA, and is currently being challenged in court by unions who say it violates free speech and obligations to bargain with workers.

The EPA had more than 16,000 employees as of March 2025, according to federal HR records. That figure doesn’t include employees that accepted buyouts. The agency said in July it would cut the size of its workforce by at least 23% and close its scientific research office as part of Trump's broad effort to downsize the federal government.

Unions are suing to stop Trump’s effort to dismantle collective bargaining agreements. A federal appeals court on August 1 said the administration could move forward with exempting certain federal agencies from their obligation to negotiate with unions. AFGE, which represents the EPA workers, is a plaintiff in that lawsuit.