The American Federation of Government Employees is pushing back, arguing that the ruling does not give VA permission to re-terminate the agreement.
October 15, 2026 6:08 pm
3 min read
The Department of Veterans Affairs is once again pushing forward with sunsetting its collective bargaining agreement with the American Federation of Government Employees.
VA officials on Oct. 8 revised agency guidance on collective bargaining to state that the AFGE national agreement “no longer applies” for most bargaining unit employees, according to internal documents viewed by Federal News Network.
The update from VA comes after a federal appeals court on Oct. 2 granted VA’s request to stay an order that had been upholding the contract with AFGE. The collective bargaining agreement with AFGE’s National VA Council covers more than 320,000 VA employees.
The VA guidance cites President Donald Trump’s initial executive order, the contract’s August expiration date, and the October appeals court ruling as justification for terminating the collective bargaining agreement.
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Negotiations, grievance and arbitration proceedings, access to office space for union activities, and other contractual provisions covering VA bargaining unit employees “shall immediately cease,” VA wrote in its revised guidance.
Employees must return all government equipment and resources being used for union activities no later than Oct. 22, VA said. Only police officers, firefighters and security guards are exempted from the contract termination.
VA notified AFGE on Oct. 10 that the agency now considers the collective bargaining agreement officially expired.
“AFGE vehemently opposes the VA’s latest attack on federal workers, a third of whom are veterans themselves,” AFGE said in an Oct. 13 post.
VA first announced in August 2025 that it was terminating most of its union contracts, following an executive order that sought to eliminate collective bargaining across most executive branch agencies on “national security” grounds. Unions quickly moved forward with challenging VA in court over the contract cancellations.
In March, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction ordering VA to restore its agreement with AFGE. But as litigation has progressed, the dispute between AFGE and VA has involved multiple rounds of the agreement being canceled and reinstated.
While the agreement between VA and AFGE was set to expire Aug. 8, the same federal judge on Aug. 7 ordered VA to keep the contract in place, ruling that AFGE had satisfied requirements to trigger an automatic extension of the current agreement while negotiations for a new one were underway.
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But a three-judge appeals court panel determined Oct. 2 that the court order from August raised new “substantive” issues involving the interpretation of AFGE’s collective bargaining agreement, going beyond the scope of the initial preliminary injunction from March.
The initial March injunction remains in effect, but the Oct. 2 stay decision has become the basis for VA’s latest decision to move forward once again with terminating its agreement with AFGE. A VA spokesperson declined to comment for this story, saying the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
The appeals court decision “did not sanction the VA’s interpretation of the duration of agreement article, nor did it give the VA permission to re-terminate the CBA,” AFGE said.
The ongoing lawsuit over VA’s union contract cancellation is one of several challenges against the Trump administration’s push to end collective bargaining. The Federal Bureau of Prisons this month also re-terminated its agreement with AFGE, days after a federal judge ordered it to be restored.
AFGE vowed to continue the fight to have its collective bargaining agreement with VA recognized by the agency.
“Our fight is far from over. We will take every action to defend our contract and the rule of law,” the union said. “The court has not ruled on the underlying issue in this case, which is whether VA Secretary Doug Collins has the right to strip more than 300,000 VA employees of their voice at work.”
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