Chip Rogers
Role at the time: Chief executive officer of Americans for Fair Treatment, in an opinion column published by TheBlaze
Defended or excused
Response to this claim
Ending most VA union contracts lets VA staff spend time on veterans instead of union business, frees office space for veterans' care, and lets managers reward high performers and hold poor performers accountable.
“In a bold and long-overdue move, Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins ended most collective bargaining agreements for the department's 430,000 unionized employees. ... By freeing the VA from entrenched unions, Collins has restored accountability, strengthened the workforce, and realigned the department's mission with its values.”
Read the original text (opens in a new tab)Chip Rogers column in TheBlaze: Unions can't hide behind veterans any moreOpinion column text
Why we used 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. Rogers calls the terminations bold and long overdue and says they restored accountability at the VA, which defends them.