On April 9, 2026, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a memo ordering the termination of nearly all Department of Defense collective bargaining agreements within 24 hours. The action affects approximately 300,000 DoD workers represented primarily by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE).
Hegseth cited Trump executive orders that use a seldom-invoked provision of the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act to strip federal workers of collective bargaining rights on national security grounds. He gave deputies just 24 hours to cancel the contracts.
Four installations with Federal Wage System workers were exempted, along with two unions (IFPTE and FEA) that had secured preliminary injunctions. AFGE — the largest affected union — was not exempted.
AFGE President Everett Kelley: “Secretary Hegseth's decision to terminate the union rights of hardworking individuals who support our military is a cowardly continuation of this administration's unlawful attack on federal employees' first amendment right to belong to a union.”
The Ninth Circuit had upheld the executive order in February 2026. However, the VA was separately forced to reverse course and restore union contracts after a judge's rebuke — a ruling that has not been applied to DoD.