Bernie Sanders calls the end of collective bargaining at the VA an outrage
Bernie SandersU.S. senator from Vermont and member of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, questioning Secretary Collins at a committee hearing
At a May 2025 committee hearing, Sanders tells Secretary Collins that VA union members can no longer bargain collectively under President Trump's order, calls that an outrage and predicts the courts will overturn it.
“Well, the bottom line is unions, 79 percent of workers at the VA are union members. They no longer are able to engage in collective bargaining. To me that is an outrage. I think the courts will overturn that.”
Original text
Where this statement fits
VA ends most union contracts, then treats AFGE's as expired; Collins cites veterans' care and unions call it retaliation
On August 6, 2025, the Department of Veterans Affairs terminated its collective bargaining agreements with five unions for most of its bargaining-unit employees. It cited Executive Order 14251, which President Trump signed in March 2025 to exclude the VA and other agencies from federal collective bargaining on national security grounds. Contracts for about 4,000 VA police officers, firefighters and security guards stayed in place. Secretary Doug Collins said unions that represent VA employees too often fight against veterans' best interests while protecting bad workers. The American Federation of Government Employees, whose master agreement covered about 300,000 VA employees, sued in federal court in Rhode Island in November 2025, arguing the termination was retaliation for its public opposition to VA policies. On March 13, 2026, U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose ordered the contract restored, finding the union likely to succeed on its First Amendment and Administrative Procedure Act claims. Collins terminated it again on March 26 on national security grounds, and the judge ruled the next day that the re-termination did not comply with her order. In May the First Circuit left her injunction in place. The VA then said the contract would end with its three-year term on August 8, 2026. AFGE says the VA's request to renegotiate triggered a clause that keeps the contract in force until a new one is agreed. Judge DuBose agreed in August, but on October 2 the First Circuit stayed that order, finding it went beyond the original injunction, without deciding the contract question. The VA told AFGE on October 10 that it considers the agreement expired for everyone except police officers, firefighters and security guards. AFGE has asked the judge to modify her injunction, and we did not find a ruling on that request as of November 12, 2026.
Source and context
Original text
About this source
The printed record of the May 6, 2025 hearing with VA Secretary Doug Collins, published by the Government Publishing Office. Sanders asks Collins whether VA workers who belong to unions are a threat to national security and why the VA eliminated collective bargaining rights.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Sanders asked Collins whether VA workers who belong to unions are a threat to national security and why the VA eliminated collective bargaining rights. Collins answered that the executive order was about the VA's national security mission, not about whether VA workers were a threat.
After the quotation
Collins replied that this was not true at that point, and Sanders moved on to a question about outreach to veterans who do not use VA care.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The reference point is the Department of Veterans Affairs' exclusion from collective bargaining under Executive Order 14251, its termination of most of its union contracts on August 6, 2025, and its later treatment of the AFGE master agreement as expired in October 2026. Speaking months before the terminations, Sanders calls the loss of collective bargaining at the VA an outrage, which condemns the exclusion.
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More from this case
Read the full caseAFGE says the appeals court did not let the VA re-terminate its contract and calls the move an attack on federal workers
American Federation of Government Employees
“Notably, the First Circuit 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 vehemently opposes the VA's latest attack on federal workers, a third of whom are veterans themselves.”Read statement
VA tells employees that without the expired AFGE contract, staff and managers can communicate more freely
United States Department of Veterans Affairs
“Employees and managers can more freely engage in open communications to improve the organization ... You may also see changes to some of the processes and procedures that were previously contained in the now-expired AFGE collective bargaining agreement.”Read statement
Doug Collins tells AFGE the VA is terminating its contract again, on national security grounds
“The President is aware of both the important national security role VA performs and how collective bargaining affects VA's ability to perform that mission. ... VA is accordingly terminating this CBA on national security grounds.”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "Bernie Sanders calls the end of collective bargaining at the VA an outrage". First published: 2026-11-13. Last updated: 2026-11-13. https://disputeindex.com/events/8743-at-a-may-2025-committee-hearing-sanders-tells