US Sen. Lisa Murkowski has once again broken with conservatives, this time teaming up with some of the most union-aligned Democrats in Congress to introduce legislation restoring collective bargaining power to federal employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The bill, co-sponsored by Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, along with Rep. Delia Ramirez of Illinois, would overturn two Trump executive orders and reinstate union contracts that were canceled for roughly 80% of VA workers. The measure is being championed by national labor unions, including AFGE, NAGE, NFFE, National Nurses United, and SEIU.
Murkowski framed the bill as necessary to protect whistleblowers and ensure quality care for veterans.
“Our country made a promise to care for those who have served,” Murkowski said in her news release, arguing that the VA workforce must retain its bargaining privileges so employees “have access to working conditions that allow them to focus on supporting our veterans.”
Conservative veterans’ groups and federal-workforce watchdogs say the opposite is true, that expanding union power inside the VA is exactly what has contributed to the bureaucratic stagnation that has plagued the department for years.
The proposal, dubbed the VA Care and Benefits Accountability Act, would nullify Executive Orders 14251 and 14343, restore canceled labor agreements, and guarantee full collective bargaining rights for nearly 400,000 VA employees, a quarter of whom are veterans.
It would directly reverse reforms enacted under the Trump Administration that aimed to streamline management, reduce union control of agency operations, and speed up removal of employees who engaged in misconduct or severely underperformed.
In August, VA Secretary Doug Collins terminated union contracts for most bargaining-unit employees after court challenges failed to block implementation. The change affected mental-health clinicians, nurses, claims processors, and other positions central to delivering care.
Supporters of reinstating the contracts, including Murkowski, say the cancellations weakened whistleblower protections and removed critical safeguards.
But critics argue that reinstating broad union privileges empowers public-sector unions at the expense of veterans, who already struggle with long wait times, delayed disability decisions, and inconsistent levels of care across the system.
Murkowski’s alignment with Big Labor is not new, but her collaboration with Schumer and Blumenthal on a bill designed to strengthen federal unions is certain to deepen concerns among conservatives who believe Alaska’s senior senator has drifted increasingly toward the Democratic coalition in Washington.
The Alaska AFL-CIO quickly praised her.
“As a former servicemember, I am deeply appreciative of Senator Murkowski’s support for the hard-working professionals who care for our veterans and their basic right to collectively bargain,” said Alaska’s AFL-CIO President Joelle Hall. “The stripping of collective bargaining rights from America’s civil service is bad for safety, bad for morale, and bad for the American public. The Alaska AFL-CIO urges Congress to pass this bill quickly and send a message that we respect the men and women who have served our country and the devoted workers who serve our veterans.”
National union leaders echoed the sentiment, casting the bill as a shield against management decisions they oppose and a tool to strengthen employee power inside the VA bureaucracy.
Yet the VA’s most persistent problems, such as bloated overhead, inability to remove bad actors, whistleblowers being sidelined by their own management, and thousands of unresolved patient-care issues, have historically been tied to entrenched union influence.
Under Trump, the VA made measurable progress in disciplinary accountability and reducing office-time allowances that previously let union officials perform union business on taxpayer time. Rolling those reforms back risks returning to the same unaccountable culture that led to the VA wait-time scandal a decade ago.
In the House, the bill is supported by these Democrat co-sponsors: Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-At Large), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), Mark Takano (CA-39), Nikki Budzinski (IL-03), Herbert C. Conaway (NJ-03), Chellie Pingree (ME-01), Lloyd Doggett (TX-37), John B. Larson (CT-01), Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-08), Donald S. Beyer (VA-08), Nikema Williams (GA-05), James P. McGovern (MA-02), Joe Courtney (CT-02), Angie Craig (MN-02), Marilyn Strickland (WA-10), Dina Titus (NC-01), Sarah Elfreth (MD-03), Shri Thanedar (MI-13), Kelly L. Robin (IL-02), Greg Casar (TX-35), Danny K. Davis (IL-07), Kim Schrier (WA-08), Andre Carson (IN-07), Stephen F. Lynch (MA-08), Dwight Evans (PA-03), Kelly Morrison (MN-03), Timothy M. Kennedy (NY-26), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20), Steve Cohen (TN-09), Morgan McGarvey (KY-03), Julia Brownley (CA-26).
The bill faces an uncertain path. While most Republicans have pushed to modernize the VA by increasing accountability and reducing union dominance, Schumer, Murkowski, and Blumenthal have other ideas in a narrowly Republican-controlled Senate.
13 thoughts on “Sens. Murkowski, Schumer, & Democrats introduce bill to restore federal employee union”
What could a union possibly do to improve care or working conditions? Unions exist in this day and age to raise costs so they can skim more. Federal law dictates work environments and really, the union has no say in that anymore. Lisa is getting kickbacks, apparently. Why else would she vote for less efficiency and more campaign cash for democrats via the union?
Murkowski is disturbed. Money and power seemed to affect her long before the TDS.
She’s bought and paid
Eventually, the conservatives in the Senate will get tired of this conduct and throw her off the Appropriations committee.
Joelle Hall publicly called Vietnam era Navy Seal Laddie Shaw a coward
Government employees shouldn’t be more powerful than the private sector that pays for their wages
Interestingly, there’s no Republicans supporting this bill … I wonder why? Is Sully even providing support for her and this bill(?) … “NO!” I’m sure he’s embarrassed by her errant // reckless actions, just like most Alaskans are. Indeed, something is ‘off’ with Lisa and it’s been evident for awhile. Could it be(?): TDS … Feministic Nazism … Narcissism … Greed … ADD (???). Simply, she’s inflicted with all of it in a cauldron of worthless toxicity that provides no utility for Alaskans and/or Alaska.
Sen. Murkowski can’t “break from conservatives” as it was never a group she was a part of.
People have the right to organize.
And we, who pay them, have a right to reject that.
“Loathsome” is the first, but far from the only, word that instantly comes to my mind whenever I read or hear of Princess Lisa.
Even President FDR (the father of collective bargaining for the private sector, with the “National Labor Relations Act” of 1935), said there should not be collective bargaining for government employees.
I think there should only be free-market bargaining for government employees. Government employees should be in the realm of public service, not public extortion.
President Roosevelt did not support union membership for Government Employees.
This is a horrid example of empowering unions to interfere with the needs and rights for American Veterans.
Total unacceptable attack on our American Veterans by Senator Murkowski.