The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is no longer recognizing collective bargaining unit agreements for thousands of represented employees across several agencies.
Word of the decision, confirmed by an HHS representative, came Friday and was met by condemnation from the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which had at least half a dozen locally based branches affected by the change.
President Donald Trump set the wheels in motion with a March executive order instructing the government to end collective bargaining with federal unions. That order cited an authority to end collective bargaining among agencies “with national security missions” and included a list of several relevant agencies within the HHS as well as the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
The VA already made good on the order near the top of August, saying in a press release that the change would increase department efficiency and improve the services it delivers to veterans. A spokesperson for the HHS cited a similar reasoning for the health department’s decertifications.
“Last week's action ensures that HHS resources and personnel are fully focused on safeguarding the health and security of the American people,” Andrew Nixon, director of communications at the HHS, told Fierce Healthcare in a statement. “By implementing President Trump’s Executive Order 14251, HHS is removing unnecessary obstacles to mission-critical work and space previously used for union activities. This change strengthens our ability to respond rapidly to public health threats, advance national security, and deliver results for the American taxpayer.”
The de-recognition of representation includes agreements affecting federal workers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Office of the General Counsel, the Office of the Secretary and the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
The AFGE, in a Friday release, said it had learned of the actions via press reporting rather than from the government itself. It contested the administration’s framing of collective bargaining agreements as a drain on emergency government services, instead describing union contracts as necessary to stabilize the civil workforce for times of need.
It also pointed to last week’s terminations of hundreds of CDC employees—shortly after a shooting that targeted the agency—as contrary to the stated goal of improved emergency preparedness.
“Canceling our CBAs and gutting our workforce at the same time weakens CDC’s readiness and makes America less safe and less healthy,” AFGE Local 1916 Vice President Brendan Demich said in the release. “You cannot cut capacity, silence workers, and then claim you are strengthening public health. Those two positions contradict each other.”
The AFGE said its locals are “fully intact” and will continue their work regardless of whether they are recognized by the government.
“Don’t believe HHS—we are still a union,” AFGE Local 3840 Vice President Micah Niemeier-Walsh said in a statement. “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.”