The Department of Veterans Affairs terminated contracts for most bargaining-unit workers Wednesday, a move regional union leaders are calling “retaliation” for their opposition to Trump administration layoffs.

In a statement released Wednesday, the VA said the termination of the collective bargaining agreements “will make it easier for VA leaders to promote high-performing employees, hold poor performers accountable, and improve benefits and services to America’s Veterans.”

The VA is the largest federal-government employer in Pennsylvania, with more than 19,000 employees as of September. The majority work for the Veterans Health Administration, which operates health centers and clinics across the state.

Five unions will be impacted, including the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) which represents around 320,000 VA workers. That includes roughly 2,000 in the Philadelphia area, according to AFGE District 3 national vice president Philip Glover.

Glover, who represents thousands of workers in Pennsylvania and Delaware, says the move is “all about retaliation.” AFGE’s national leadership have criticized the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce and have filed several lawsuits challenging executive orders.

“It’s very selective, it’s all based on whether a union has questioned [the Trump administration] or taken them to task over things that they’ve done,” he said. “At the same time, they’ve allowed other unions who maybe aren’t seen as as active as we are to still represent members in the same hospital.”

The VA announcement follows an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in March that instructed some federal agencies to end collective bargaining agreements on the grounds of protecting national security.

Last week, a federal appeals court lifted a lower court’s temporary injunction blocking the order’s implementation. The ruling authorized the Trump administration to move forward, although it directed agencies to refrain from ending any union contracts until litigation concluded.

Earlier this year, AFGE opposed the VA’s plan to cut more than 80,000 workers. The agency later announced it had cancelled the mass layoffs after the federal hiring freeze, deferred resignations, retirements, and “normal attrition” put it on pace to reduce staff by nearly 30,000 by the end of the fiscal year.

Glover says that, so far, the union has received no “unified message” from the VA about what the termination of the contract will mean.

“Different hospitals are telling us different things,” he said.

He worries that it will impact workplace investigations, schedules, and the resolution of pay and benefit issues.

The AFGE said they are “assessing (their) options to challenge Secretary Collins’ decision and restore (their) members’ union rights” in a statement shared Wednesday.

“Secretary Collins’ decision to rip up the negotiated union contract for [the] majority of its workforce is another clear example of retaliation against AFGE members for speaking out against the illegal, anti-worker, and anti-veteran policies of this administration,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in the press release.

VA police officers, firefighters, and security guards are exempt from the executive order and will remain covered by their contracts.

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