{"id":680,"date":"2026-07-31T11:14:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T11:14:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=680"},"modified":"2026-07-31T11:14:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T11:14:48","slug":"vas-third-attempt-to-scrap-union-contract-heads-back-to-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=680","title":{"rendered":"VA\u2019s third attempt to scrap union contract heads back to court"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A union representing more than 300,000 Veterans Affairs Department employees is asking a federal judge to block the department\u2019s third attempt to cancel its collective bargaining agreements, this time after talks over a new agreement broke down..<\/p>\n

Read more Why treating everything as \u2018URGENT!\u2019 makes government less effective<\/a><\/p>\n

Since President Trump issued an executive order in March 2025 banning collective bargaining at most federal agencies on national security grounds, the VA has twice tried to end its union contracts, first in August 2025 and again last March. Both efforts were blocked via preliminary injunctions imposed by U.S. District Judge Melissa Dubose, a Biden appointee, who found that the department violated employees\u2019 First Amendment rights. The VA\u2019s second attempt prompted Dubose to warn the department it could face contempt proceedings. A federal appeals court upheld most of Dubose\u2019s rulings in May.<\/p>\n

The latest dispute centers on whether VA can allow the current agreement to expire while they are still negotiating a new one.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The American Federation of Government Employees on Tuesday filed its asking U.S. District Judge Melissa Dubose to enforce her prior court orders after management said it would terminate the contract upon its scheduled expiration date of Aug. 8. The VA, for its part, argued that it is simply letting the deal expire.<\/p>\n

Though her injunction preserves the CBA only for \u201cthe remainder of the agreed-upon term,\u201d the union said the VA issued a notice following the appeals court\u2019s ruling in May seeking to begin negotiations for a new term. That action triggers a clause within the CBA\u2014common across government\u2014automatically extending the contract until the parties can reach a new deal.<\/p>\n

\u201c[AFGE\u2019s National VA Council] promptly acknowledged VA\u2019s letter in writing,\u201d the union wrote. \u201cThe VA and NVAC began negotiating by focusing on preliminary matters, such as the arrangements for ground rules negotiations, including through letters written by NVAC to the VA dated June 5, June 12, June 17, June 26, June 30 and July 8.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more GSA official says veterans\u2019 preference in federal hiring is hampering tech recruiting<\/a><\/p>\n

AFGE said that as part of those talks, management said the new deal would only cover the roughly 3,000 VA police officers, firefighters and security guards, in line with the executive order\u2019s exception for such positions. But on July 24, management accused the union of refusing to meet for negotiations within 30 days of its request to begin negotiations, and said it would actually terminate the agreement for all bargaining unit workers.<\/p>\n

But the VA, in a seeking reconsideration of an order that the department respond to the union\u2019s motion within three days, said its actions were foreseeable and that any claims regarding the 3,000 employees exempt from the executive order must be channeled through the Federal Labor Relations Authority.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaintiffs assert that the VA is seeking to \u2018terminate\u2019 the agreement come August 8, 2026,\u201d attorneys for the department wrote. \u201cThe master agreement, however, expires August 8, 2026 by its own terms. And plaintiffs do not dispute that the VA informed them as early as May 19, 2026 (and again on July 15, 2026) what the VA\u2019s position was on continued CBA coverage for employees who are not exempt from executive order 14,251. The rush to judgment on plaintiffs\u2019 motion to enforce is a crisis of their own making, when they have been aware of this issue since May.\u201d<\/p>\n

The outcome could determine whether thousands of VA employees keep the workplace rules and protections negotiated in their current contract as the Trump administration moves to scale back collective bargaining across the federal government.<\/p>\n

Read more DOJ nominee faces confirmation hurdle over agency commitments<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Veterans Affairs Department says it is following the terms of an expiring agreement. AFGE argues VA is ignoring a requirement to keep the contract in place during negotiations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":679,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-workforce"],"yoast_head":"\nVA\u2019s third attempt to scrap union contract heads back to court - Market Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=680\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"VA\u2019s third attempt to scrap union contract heads back to court - Market Relocation Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Veterans Affairs Department says it is following the terms of an expiring agreement. AFGE argues VA is ignoring a requirement to keep the contract in place during negotiations.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=680\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Market Relocation Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-31T11:14:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/marketrelocationreport.com\\\/?p=680#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/marketrelocationreport.com\\\/?p=680\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/marketrelocationreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/19c060c848a41baec5bd9c5b313f46d9\"},\"headline\":\"VA\u2019s third attempt to scrap union contract heads back to court\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-31T11:14:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/marketrelocationreport.com\\\/?p=680\"},\"wordCount\":606,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/marketrelocationreport.com\\\/?p=680#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/marketrelocationreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/dd3604e30dd87b8b1c251d16bb15a054.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Workforce\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/marketrelocationreport.com\\\/?p=680#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/marketrelocationreport.com\\\/?p=680\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/marketrelocationreport.com\\\/?p=680\",\"name\":\"VA\u2019s third attempt to scrap union contract heads back to court - Market Relocation Report\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/marketrelocationreport.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/marketrelocationreport.com\\\/?p=680#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/marketrelocationreport.com\\\/?p=680#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/marketrelocationreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/dd3604e30dd87b8b1c251d16bb15a054.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-31T11:14:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/marketrelocationreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/19c060c848a41baec5bd9c5b313f46d9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/marketrelocationreport.com\\\/?p=680#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/marketrelocationreport.com\\\/?p=680\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/marketrelocationreport.com\\\/?p=680#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/marketrelocationreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/dd3604e30dd87b8b1c251d16bb15a054.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/marketrelocationreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/dd3604e30dd87b8b1c251d16bb15a054.jpg\",\"width\":400,\"height\":400},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/marketrelocationreport.com\\\/?p=680#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/marketrelocationreport.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"VA\u2019s third attempt to scrap union contract heads back to court\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/marketrelocationreport.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/marketrelocationreport.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Market Relocation Report\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/marketrelocationreport.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/marketrelocationreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/19c060c848a41baec5bd9c5b313f46d9\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/marketrelocationreport.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/marketrelocationreport.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"VA\u2019s third attempt to scrap union contract heads back to court - Market Relocation Report","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=680","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"VA\u2019s third attempt to scrap union contract heads back to court - Market Relocation Report","og_description":"The Veterans Affairs Department says it is following the terms of an expiring agreement. AFGE argues VA is ignoring a requirement to keep the contract in place during negotiations.","og_url":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=680","og_site_name":"Market Relocation Report","article_published_time":"2026-07-31T11:14:48+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=680#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=680"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/#\/schema\/person\/19c060c848a41baec5bd9c5b313f46d9"},"headline":"VA\u2019s third attempt to scrap union contract heads back to court","datePublished":"2026-07-31T11:14:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=680"},"wordCount":606,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=680#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/dd3604e30dd87b8b1c251d16bb15a054.jpg","articleSection":["Workforce"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=680#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=680","url":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=680","name":"VA\u2019s third attempt to scrap union contract heads back to court - Market Relocation Report","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=680#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=680#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/dd3604e30dd87b8b1c251d16bb15a054.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-31T11:14:48+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/#\/schema\/person\/19c060c848a41baec5bd9c5b313f46d9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=680#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=680"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=680#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/dd3604e30dd87b8b1c251d16bb15a054.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/dd3604e30dd87b8b1c251d16bb15a054.jpg","width":400,"height":400},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=680#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"VA\u2019s third attempt to scrap union contract heads back to court"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/","name":"Market Relocation Report","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/#\/schema\/person\/19c060c848a41baec5bd9c5b313f46d9","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com"],"url":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}