By Brett Rowland
The Center Square

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs officials announced Friday that the agency is redirecting nearly $45 million from public union costs to care for veterans.

“VA staff will now get to spend more time with Veterans, VA facilities can focus on treating Veterans, and VA can manage its staff according to Veterans’ needs and national security requirements, not union demands,” VA Secretary Doug Collins said.

Earlier this month, Veterans Affairs canceled its contracts with most unions on Wednesday, saying the unions fight against the best interests of veterans. VA said the move follows President Donald Trump’s executive order from March to do away with public employee unions at the federal level after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a preliminary injunction that previously stopped 21 agencies from implementing the executive order.

In April, VA stopped withholding union dues from most employees’ paychecks.

Unions are fighting back in court. They recently said Collins’ decision went against Office of Personnel Management guidance and was “contrary to recent administration representations in court that union contracts were not being terminated.”

When VA canceled those contacts, it cut the number of VA bargaining unit employees from about 375,000 to about 7,000. Trump’s executive order exempted public safety employee unions, so employment contracts covering VA police officers, firefighters and security guards represented by unions will remain in place.

VA is redirecting nearly $45 million per year in federal funds from unions to America’s Veterans by ending taxpayer-funded union time, reclaiming federal office space used for public union activities, and getting back federal IT equipment.

Ending taxpayer-funded union time is expected to save the most money. In 2024, VA spent $39.75 million to allowed 1,961 VA employees to spend nearly 750,000 hours working on behalf of government unions rather than VA beneficiaries. After ditching the union contract, the agency no longer has to allow union employees to do union work on taxpayer time.

VA officials said that vast majority of these employees are back working full time for VA in the positions they were hired to do rather than doing work on behalf of the union. This includes more than 1,000 employees serving in direct patient-care roles.

VA also reclaimed more than 180,000 square feet of office space worth about $5.4 million that had been provided to unions free of charge. The space will be repurposed to serve VA beneficiaries, including expanded administrative and clinical services in several facilities across the country.

The agency has reclaimed more than 2,000 pieces of IT equipment worth about $600,000 from union representatives, which VA had been providing free of charge.

Affected employees include nurses, doctors, benefits specialists, housekeepers, electricians, painters, food service workers, lawyers, dentists, pharmacists, crisis responders, mental health specialists, cemetery workers and janitors.

VA, the Environmental Protection Agency, Food Safety and Inspection Service, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have all canceled union contracts after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a preliminary injunction, according to the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employee union.

“Ripping up our negotiated union contracts is a clear example of this administration retaliating against AFGE members for speaking out against the illegal, anti-worker, and anti-veteran policies of this administration,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said.

The union is considering options to challenge the contract terminations and restore union rights.