EPA axes contracts with unions

Source: Politico

08/08/2025 07:32 PM EDTUpdated: 08/08/2025 07:56 PM EDT


EPA on Friday canceled contracts with a host of unions, including the America Federation of Government Employees, the largest labor organization representing staffers from the agency, according to a letter viewed by POLITICO’s E&E News.

In the memo to staffers, the agency said it was canceling the contracts to align with an executive order that President Donald Trump signed in March barring collective bargaining at more than two dozen agencies and subagencies based on national security concerns, as well as a recent court ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Bob Coomber, EPA’s senior labor adviser, said the reason for terminating the contracts was “to prevent irreparable harm to national security.” He referred not only to the contract with AFGE, but also to ones with the National Association of Government Employees, Engineers and Scientists of California, and the National Association of Independent Labor.

Justin Chen, the president of AFGE Council 238, which represents more than 8,000 EPA workers, said in a statement that the union was planning to legally challenge the agency’s decision to cut the contracts.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/08/epa-axes-contracts-with-unions-00501208