VA flouting court ruling that restored bargaining agreement, union claims
By Daniel Wiessner
March 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has been accused by a union of violating a judge's ruling reviving a collective bargaining agreement, which covers 320,000 employees of the agency that had been canceled to carry out an order from President Donald Trump.
The American Federation of Government Employees in a filing in Rhode Island federal court on Friday said the VA has not reinstated the benefits guaranteed by the agreement, such as parental leave and the right to union representation in disciplinary proceedings, since the March 13 ruling.
The VA earlier on Friday had asked U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose to clarify her decision, which reversed the cancellation of the bargaining agreement pending the outcome of AFGE's lawsuit.
DuBose's ruling is among the most significant so far in a series of lawsuits stemming from Trump's 2025 executive order stripping most of the federal workforce of the ability to collectively bargain.
AFGE on Friday said the refusal to comply with DuBose's order would ultimately harm military veterans who rely on VA employees to care for them.
VA Secretary Doug Collins "cannot tell a federal judge one thing and then pretend he doesn’t understand what the ruling means. We are going back to court to hold the VA to its legal obligations," AFGE President Everett Kelley said in a statement.
The VA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
DuBose in her ruling agreed with AFGE that the VA improperly canceled its bargaining agreement in August as retaliation for the union's opposition to Trump administration labor policies.
The VA had claimed Trump properly exempted the agency from collective bargaining because of the role it plays in maintaining national security - namely, as "the primary backup" for healthcare services required by the military during a war or national emergency.
But DuBose said the VA had provided no evidence that national security had motivated the decision to cancel the union contract, and ordered the agency to reinstate it.
The VA in its filing on Friday said it was unclear whether DuBose had barred the agency from terminating the bargaining agreement for any reason before its August expiration, which it said would be improper.
And the agency asked the judge to make clear that her decision did not apply to the local AFGE affiliates that represent groups of VA workers but are not involved in the lawsuit. The plaintiffs are AFGE's National VA Council, which bargains on behalf of all AFGE members at the VA, and an affiliate that represents workers in the Providence, Rhode Island area. Local affiliates handle grievances and other issues specific to smaller groups of workers, including bargaining for agreements that supplement the master national contract.
Trump's executive order exempted the VA and more than a dozen other federal agencies from obligations to bargain with unions. They include the departments of Justice, State, Defense, Treasury, and Health and Human Services.
The order applies to agencies that, according to Trump, "have as a primary function intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work." It significantly expanded an existing exception for workers with duties implicating national security, such as federal law enforcement agents.
Trump's order has been challenged in at least three lawsuits, while unions have filed many more challenges to individual agencies canceling bargaining agreements. Last month, a federal appeals court in San Francisco rejected a bid by AFGE and other unions to block Trump's order while their case proceeds.
The case is American Federation of Government Employees National VA Council v. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, No. 1:25-cv-00583.
For AFGE: Carly Iafrate of Law Office of Carly B. Iafrate; Travis Silva and others from Keker Van Nest & Peters
For the VA: Andrea Hyatt and Tyler Becker of the U.S. Department of Justice
Read more:
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US court will not block Trump from ending union bargaining for federal workers
