Peeling back the curtain: Trump admin reveals true cost of federal collective bargaining

Taxpayers expect a government that’s efficient, effective, and affordable. On Feb. 4, in a new report, the Trump administration made clear that the current process of federal collective bargaining isn’t meeting those basic standards.

Full credit goes to the Office of Personnel Management report for peeling back the curtain. All told, OPM found that bargaining with government unions cost more than $180 million in fiscal year 2024 alone. The money covered everything from negotiating new contracts to mediating disputes. It also covered salaries and benefits for federal workers who engaged in collective bargaining-related activities. Surely that’s not what taxpayers think they’re funding when they send money to the IRS.

In releasing this report, OPM Director Scott Kupor explained that it gives taxpayers the information they’ve never had but urgently need: “Agencies must understand the true costs of collective bargaining, evaluate whether these resources are being used wisely, and ask whether the current system serves American taxpayers.” Kupor noted, “What makes this especially troubling is how inefficient the system has become.”

When federal agencies spend money on collective bargaining, they can be distracted from their core mission. They have less time and fewer resources to devote to what taxpayers are funding the agency to do.

And if anything, the problem is even bigger than the OPM report states. Last summer, the Trump administration separately found that, over the same time period, taxpayer-funded union time, also known as “official time,” actually cost more than $239 million. The OPM report also didn’t account for the government agencies that exist to deal with federal labor relations and unions. That’s tens of millions more that taxpayers are spending on union-related activity.

Bottom line: Taxpayers are spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year, not on core government functions, but simply dealing with federal labor unions.

What, exactly, are they bargaining over? For the most part, federal unions can’t bargain over wages or benefits. Instead, as my organization has found, taxpayers are funding negotiations that neither benefit federal workers nor have anything to do with serving the public.

Case in point: One federal union bargained with the government over whether employees could wear spandex to work. The union argued that wearing spandex was a fundamental right. Taxpayers covered the cost of such absurd discussions.

Another federal union negotiated over the height of cubicle desk panels that separate workspaces. It wanted them raised higher, as well as new “modesty panels” below the desk. Every second spent debating these panels was paid for by Americans.

The list goes on. Some union negotiations have focused on things like carving out smoking zones on federal properties that are supposed to be smoke-free. And not only does the public pay for the salaries of the federal negotiators, but in many cases, taxpayers cover the cost of the union officials on the other side of the bargaining table, too. They also pay for travel to the negotiating location, along with lodging and all other expenses.

By peeling back the curtain, OPM has given Americans the transparency they need. The OPM director has rightly made clear that this transparency “isn’t about questioning the value of a professional civil service.” Indeed, “federal employees already operate under some of the strongest workplace protections in the country.” Rather, it’s about letting taxpayers know that “collective bargaining in the federal sector sits on top of those protections, creating an additional and extremely costly layer of process.” The public deserves the truth, since after all, it’s the American people’s money.

The Trump administration has put taxpayers first by shining a light on the cost of collective bargaining. Its new report paves the way for reforms that could ensure more taxpayer money is saved or spent on federal workers themselves. The federal government does critical work, and employees should be empowered to focus on doing their jobs at the highest level. They shouldn’t be distracted by– and taxpayers shouldn’t fund – bargaining over things like spandex and smoking.