AFGE will continue fighting the administration’s attempts to terminate the collective bargaining agreement covering more than 300,000 employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
On Oct. 2, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit granted the Department of Veterans Affairs’ motion to stay U.S. District Court Judge Melissa DuBose’s Aug. 7 order granting AFGE’s motion to enforce the March 2026 preliminary injunction reinstating the 2023 CBA. Judge DuBose found that because the parties were in the process of renegotiating the contract and the Duration of Agreement article had an “agreed-upon term” providing for the automatic extension of the CBA until a new agreement is negotiated, the preliminary injunction remained in effect.
The First Circuit’s Oct. 2 ruling was based on a narrow jurisdictional issue, finding that Judge DuBose did not have authority to modify the preliminary injunction because it was already pending appeal at the time. 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.
The VA previously has tried three times to terminate our contract, which is the largest representing federal employees. On Oct. 10, the VA notified the AFGE National VA Council that it now considers the 2023 CBA to be “expired” and that it will no longer recognize the Union as the exclusive representative of any VA employees other than police officers, firefighters, and security guards. AFGE vehemently opposes the VA’s latest attack on federal workers, a third of whom are veterans themselves.
Our fight is far from over. We will take every action to defend our contract and the rule of law. The court has not ruled on the underlying issue in this case, which is whether VA Secretary Doug Collins has the right to strip more than 300,000 VA employees of their voice at work.
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Written by OPEIU 2 AFL-CIO
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