US judge revives union contract for 320,000 workers at veterans’ agency

By Daniel Wiessner

March 13 (Reuters) – A federal judge on Friday reinstated a union bargaining agreement covering 320,000 employees of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs that the agency had canceled to carry out an order from President Donald Trump.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose in Providence, Rhode Island, 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. 

DuBose agreed with the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents more than 800,000 federal workers, that the VA canceled its bargaining agreement in August as retaliation for the union’s opposition to Trump administration labor policies. 

VA CITED NATIONAL SECURITY ROLE

In court filings, the VA 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 reinstated it pending the outcome of the union’s lawsuit.

“There is zero indication from the Defendants that the termination decision would have been made or implemented without the retaliatory motive,” wrote DuBose, an appointee of Democratic former President Joe Biden.

The VA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The agency operates a sprawling network of hospitals and other medical facilities for veterans and has more than 400,000 employees, making it one of the largest employers in the federal government.

AFGE President Everett Kelley said the VA singled out the union for retaliation because of its opposition to cuts and other changes that the union claimed would harm veterans. 

“Today’s ruling holds this administration accountable and makes clear: no one can retaliate against workers for standing up for their rights,” Kelley said in a statement.

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. 

(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Rod Nickel)