U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose
WASHINGTON, DC — A federal judge has ordered VA to restore its collective-bargaining agreement with the American Federation of Government Employees/National Veterans Affairs Council (AFGE/NVAC), which represents more than 300,000 department employees.
The agreement was terminated by VA in August, the result of an executive order exempting several federal agencies from collective-bargaining rights due to purported national security concerns. AFGE and other affected unions challenged the decision in court, arguing that the decision was retaliation for challenging administration policies affecting VA staff.
Rhode Island U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose found the union’s argument strong enough to grant a preliminary injunction, ordering VA to recognize the master collective-bargaining agreement (CBA) and restore VA union rights. In her decision, she found that the VA likely violated AFGE’s First Amendment rights and the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), which governs the process by which federal agencies develop and issue regulations.
She made it clear that the case is not about the constitutionality of the March executive order but whether the termination of the agreement was unconstitutional and “an arbitrary and capricious administrative action.”
“While timing is important, the Court cannot ignore the ample support the Plaintiffs provide to show that the Defendants’ termination of the Master CBA was motivated by retaliation for the Plaintiffs’ advocacy on behalf of their membership,” DuBose wrote in her preliminary ruling. “The Defendants have provided little counterevidence to indicate the termination was not retaliatorily motivated and/or would have occurred in the absence of the Plaintiffs’ grievances, litigation conduct, and advocacy.”
In his March 2025 executive order Exclusions From Federal Labor Management Relations Programs, President Donald Trump cited a provision in the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act that allows him to declare work done by certain federal agencies to be a matter of national security and thus ineligible for collective bargaining by unions. The order listed VA, along with the State Department, DoD and several offices within the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
VA was the first to comply with the order in August. At the time, VA framed the contract cancellation as a matter of efficiency and cost savings, labeling union activities as a distraction from taking care of veterans. In April 2025, VA Secretary Doug Collins submitted a notice in the Federal Register that VA would be exempting eight small unions—ones that were not involved in any lawsuits against VA. This was cited by AFGE as evidence that the move was politically motivated.
The union also pointed to a White House Fact Sheet detailing the reasons for the executive order. In it, the White House said it was necessary because “certain federal unions have declared war on President Trump’s agenda.”
According to DuBose’s ruling, AFGE has established a likelihood of success on the merits of a First Amendment retaliation claim and evidence suggests the termination of the CBA in August was “substantially motivated by the plaintiffs’ history and frequency of vocally opposing changes to labor policy.”
As part of the lawsuit, AFGE provided testimony from several local chapter presidents that the decision has caused “irrevocable harm” to the union and its members.
“The VA has halted the entire grievance process; VA employees no longer have disciplinary process protections or safeguards, including a right to a union representative to assist throughout the process. Benefits have already been altered, such as a decrease in parental leave time from 16 weeks to 12 weeks, and there are repercussions for employees who are knowingly associating with their union,” DuBose noted in her decision.
“When the VA signed its contract with AFGE/NVAC, it made a binding commitment to provide AFGE/NVAC-represented nurses, doctors and other VA staff with the rights and support they need to care for our veterans,” said AFGE National President Everett Kelley following the announcement of the injunction. “That contract cannot be unilaterally torn up. The VA’s actions didn’t just violate the law. Those same actions put veterans’ care at risk by undermining the very people dedicated to serving them.”
It’s likely that VA will appeal the decision, and so the union’s victory might be short-lived. A similar preliminary injunction pausing the administration’s rollback of federal collective bargaining rights was vacated by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in February.
