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No one knows how much taxpayer money is spent negotiating with federal unions, but President-elect Donald Trump could right that wrong. Building on reforms from his first administration, and with support from a new Department of Government Efficiency, he will direct all federal agencies to report how much they spend on government union support. This is something that no government agency has ever done before. Disclosure would provide transparency and accountability to the American people, but they would be shocked to learn what the federal government is negotiating and how much it will cost.
As director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) during President Ronald Reagan’s first term, I learned how costly the federal collective bargaining process is to taxpayers, and how it almost completely escapes public attention. I witnessed it. President Trump knows this is a problem, issuing an executive order in 2018 directing federal agencies to disclose union benefits, which OPM calculates amount to $163 million annually. .
But the executive order, which President Joe Biden rescinded shortly after taking office, was just the beginning. It is even more important to examine those that are most likely to result in greater costs to taxpayers. That is, how much money does the federal bureaucracy spend negotiating with unions, administering union contracts, and otherwise negotiating with the unions of more than 1 million federal employees that are funded by taxpayers?
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Certainly, the union perks are worth noting. Most notably, union representatives often use taxpayer money to do union work such as negotiating contracts and fighting disciplinary actions. Some employees who are paid by the federal government spend 100% of their time on union-related work, which means these public servants are not serving the public.
The federal government spends $163 million a year on union benefits, but no one knows how much more it spends negotiating with unions. File: June 5, 2015, U.S. Office of Personnel Management Building, Washington. (Reuters/Gary Cameron)
Associations also regularly receive free or discounted access to federal lands. At the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem, Virginia, a government union took over half of the hospital building (more than 5,000 square feet, with a kitchen, private bathroom, and outdoor patio), primarily for the benefit of the union president.
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But the costs of negotiation are equally noteworthy. The scant information that exists makes it clear that large amounts of money are being spent on the Picayune issue. Last fall, Rep. Virginia Foxx, Republican of North Carolina, then chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, documented how government unions negotiate deals with federal agencies.
These include negotiating the height of desk panels in cubicles, requiring designated smoking areas on tobacco-free federal land, and recognizing employees’ right to wear spandex. Americans have to pay for every minute of time federal employees spend sitting across from union officials debating such issues, plus all of the associated travel expenses, paperwork, and legal hurdles to jump. are paying.
new report from American Federation of Labor; A book titled “Transparency Needed in the Federal Collective Bargaining Process” sheds further light on these costs. The institute sent Freedom of Information Act requests to 28 federal agencies seeking data on spending related to collective bargaining. Twenty-one people responded, but none had a complete record.
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The Small Business Administration spent more than $6 million on salaries for employees participating in collective bargaining in 2022 and 2023. The Department of Labor spent more than $1 million on travel-related expenses. Considering there are hundreds of federal agencies, these numbers represent only a fraction of the total cost to taxpayers.
We must clarify the facts for the sake of taxpayers. President Trump will create true transparency by requiring government agencies to annually disclose how much they spend on federal collective bargaining and the impact such spending has on government efficiency and effectiveness. It can be achieved. Americans have a right to know how much they are paying to negotiate with unions over things like wearing spandex, smoking cigarettes, and other things that have nothing to do with public service.
