FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 22, 2025
August 22, 2025
Contact:
Tim Kauffman
202-374-6491
[email protected]
AFGE Condemns HHS Action to Decertify Unions at CDC and other Divisions
Stripping workers of their labor rights and protections is an assault on public health
WASHINGTON – The American Federation of Government Employees is sounding the alarm after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced its intention to strip thousands of agency employees of their collective bargaining rights at agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
“This administration’s illegal and immoral assault on federal workers and their labor unions is punishing hundreds of thousands of dedicated public servants who serve our veterans, ensure the safety of the food we eat and the air we breathe, and now those who protect our public health,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said. “Tearing up our contracts is a disservice to every American who benefits from the programs and services our members deliver. But let me be clear: our union isn’t going anywhere.”
HHS leadership informed the press—not the unions—that they would be moving to strip away collective bargaining rights of thousands of public health employees represented by AFGE and other labor unions. This includes five AFGE locals representing CDC and NIOSH employees, as well as an AFGE local that represents Food and Drug Administration employees in the Midwest.
HHS claims that eliminating the union will help the agency respond more effectively to emergencies. The unions affirm the opposite is true.
“After canceling union contracts less than two weeks after a targeted attack on CDC staff that resulted in the tragic loss of a brave police officer, HHS is moving forward with the illegal firings of hundreds of CDC employees – many of them the very public health professionals the nation depends on in a crisis,” said AFGE Local 2883 President Yolanda Jacobs.
Union leaders emphasize that strong union contracts are not an “obstacle” to emergency response – they are what ensures that CDC and NIOSH maintain a stable, experienced, and supported workforce. The CDC and NIOSH unions collectively bargain for the common good of the American people. By simultaneously moving to de-recognize AFGE and carrying out a reduction-in-force (RIF), HHS has left CDC and NIOSH with:
- Fewer experts to lead disease response and violence prevention;
- A decimated and demoralized workforce already traumatized by recent campus violence; and
- No plan to replace the essential functions now lost.
“Canceling our CBAs and gutting our workforce at the same time weakens CDC’s readiness and makes America less safe and less healthy,” said AFGE Local 1916 Vice President Brendan Demich. “You cannot cut capacity, silence workers, and then claim you are strengthening public health. Those two positions contradict each other.”
Despite HHS’s claims, the unions stress that they remain fully intact and ready to fight for CDC and NIOSH workers.
“Don’t believe HHS — we are still a union,” said AFGE Local 3840 Vice President Micah Niemeier-Walsh. “They’re attacking us because they know we are one of the last lines of defense against their effort to dismantle America’s public health system. Whether or not HHS recognizes us on paper, we will continue standing together, side-by-side as coworkers, to defend our rights and protect the nation’s health.”
“As a union, we’re not going anywhere,” Niemeier-Walsh added. “We will still be here when this administration is remembered as one of the most destructive and disingenuous in history.”
About the CDC & NIOSH AFGE Locals:
- AFGE 3840 represents employees at NIOSH in Cincinnati, Ohio
- AFGE 2883 represents employees at CDC in Atlanta, Georgia
- AFGE 2923 represents employees at CDC in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
- AFGE 3430 represents employees at NIOSH in Morgantown, West Virginia
- AFGE 1916 represents employees at NIOSH in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Spokane, Washington
Together, these unions represent thousands of front-line scientists, health professionals, and support staff working to protect the American people from disease, injury, and emerging public health threats.
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