New “Official Time” Reporting Amid Push to Curb Federal Collective Bargaining

The Trump administration is escalating its effort to weaken union representation across the federal workforce. That includes pressing agencies to track union activity and to move ahead with canceling labor agreements despite pending court challenges.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) ordered agencies to report on the use of official time and expenses related to collective bargaining for fiscal year (FY) 2025, by February 23, 2026. 

It’s the second straight year of reporting on official time. OPM reinstated the requirement last year. Tracking official time has been common practice during Republican administrations.

The most recent report showed 3.2 million hours of official time were used in FY 2024, with the average number of hours used per bargaining unit employee rising to 2.35 from 1.96. Those figures do not include the highly unionized U.S. Postal Service (USPS). 

The FY 2025 numbers are expected to show declines in official time from 2024, given that President Trump issued executive orders barring most federal employees from collective bargaining on national security grounds. 

Speaking of those orders, the OPM told agencies to go ahead with terminating collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) and to derecognize federal worker unions, despite continuing court cases. 

“For various reasons, including litigation, implementation of these executive orders at certain agencies and agency subdivisions has been delayed,” wrote OPM Director Scott Kupor in a memo. “[OPM] now advises agencies and agency subdivisions covered by [the orders] that they should proceed to terminate or modify collective bargaining agreements.”

Included in the memo is a termination template for agencies to use when terminating CBAs. Agencies were also told to report on the status of the CBA terminations by the first of each month “until all termination notices are executed and reported.” 

Unions have filed several court challenges to attempt to block the implementation of the executive orders. 

“OPM’s new guidance further demonstrates the retaliatory and unlawful nature of the Trump administration’s unprecedented attacks on collective bargaining,” said American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) National President Everett Kelley. “AFGE will continue to challenge this administration’s illegal actions until employee and union rights within the federal government are restored.”