EPA Is '100 Percent' Union-Busting, Workers Say

After ending their collective-bargaining agreements, the Environmental Protection Agency ordered employees to seek prior approval for protected union activities on non-duty time.

by James Baratta August 25, 2025

All but one of the collective-bargaining agreements covering employees at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are null and void. On August 8, the agency unilaterally terminated its agreements with five unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), to comply with an executive order President Trump handed down earlier this year.

“It was disappointing, but not unforeseen,” Justin Chen, former president of AFGE Local 1003, a union representing Texas-based EPA employees, told the Prospect in an interview.

On August 1, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a preliminary injunction that had halted the order, which strips workers at 21 federal agencies of their right to collective bargaining in the name of “national security.” The litigation is pending. EPA leadership has since seized the opportunity to end collective bargaining for its workers, but the agency went a step further by requiring prior approval for union-protected activities—on non-duty time. (The EPA already prohibits bargaining-unit employees from participating in such activities during work hours.)

https://prospect.org/labor/2025-08-25-epa-100-percent-union-busting-workers-say/