Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, LABOR NEWS—EPA follows in VA’s footsteps, cancels union contracts, (Aug 11, 2025)

By Brandi O. Brown, J.D.

AFGE Council 238 has already vowed to see the Trump administration in court over the move.

On Friday, unions representing workers at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, including AFGE, were told that their collective bargaining agreements would no longer be recognized. This news follows the marching orders given by the White House in Executive Order 14251, issued March 27, 2025, and came shortly after a similar announcement by the Veterans Administration. Both announcements followed soon after the Ninth Circuit’s decision to stay a court order that had been preventing the Trump Administration from enforcing the E.O.

What it means. In a newsletter issued over the weekend, AFGE Council 238, which represents more than 8,000 employees at EPA, explained that what this means for now is that union officers will not be able to use official time for representational work and that management will no longer adhere to the articles of the contract. “This does not mean that the Union no longer exists,” the newsletter adds, “far from it. We are not going anywhere as long as we stand together. More practically speaking, Council 238 and Local Officers have contingencies in place to continue representing employees, organizing and pushing back on these illegal assaults on our rights, and this is only possible with your support through dues but also through your own actions.”

PAWA support needed. The newsletter notes that support is needed for HR 2550, the “Protect America’s Workforce Act,” which is pending in the House of Representatives and was introduced on April 1, 2025 by Rep. Jared Golden (D-CO) and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA). The Act, which has over 222 cosponsors, would restore collective bargaining rights to 1.5 million federal employees, the newsletter explains, but requires a discharge petition to bring it to the floor.

“Union workers make America stronger every single day, including more than 6,000 federal workers in Maine,” said Rep. Golden at the time the bipartisan legislation was introduced. “Throughout our history, unions have ensured workers got their fair share of this nation’s prosperity. Unions built our middle class, and are key to strengthening its future. We cannot have a government that undermines workers’ rights.”

“The Trump administration and EPA’s unlawful and authoritarian move to unilaterally strip EPA workers of their collective bargaining agreement and workplace rights is nothing short of an assault on our democracy, the rule of law, and the lives of working people in America,” AFGE Council 238 President Justin Chen stated in response to the move. “AFGE Council 238 is united in our fight to defend our rights, our agency’s mission, and to protect the future of our country and planet. We will see the administration in court.”

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