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No one knows how much taxpayers spend negotiating with federal unions President-elect Donald Trump can correct that wrong. Building on the reforms of his first administration and with support from the new Department of Government Efficiency, he could order every federal agency to report how much it spends dealing with state unions, something no agency has ever done. Disclosure would provide transparency and accountability for the American people, who would surely be shocked to learn what the federal government is negotiating over and how much it costs.
As President Ronald Reagan’s first director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), I have seen firsthand how costly the federal collective bargaining process is to taxpayers – and how it is almost entirely out of the public eye. Trump knows this is also a problem, having issued an executive order in 2018 directing federal agencies to disclose union benefits, which, according to OPM, amount to $163 million annually.
But this executive order — which President Joe Biden repealed immediately after taking office — was just a beginning. More importantly, it is important to consider what most likely represents the higher cost to taxpayers: What are the costs? The federal bureaucracy spends a lot of time negotiating with unions. Administering union contracts and otherwise negotiating with unions in the federal workforce, which consists of over 1 million taxpayer-funded workers.
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Of course, union benefits deserve attention. Union representatives in particular often have to do union work, such as contract negotiations or fighting disciplinary action, at taxpayer expense. Some government-paid workers spend 100% of their time on union-related work, meaning these civil servants are not serving the public.
The federal government spends $163 million annually on union benefits, but no one knows how much more it spends negotiating with unions. FILE: The U.S. Office of Personnel Management building in Washington, June 5, 2015. (REUTERS/Gary Cameron)
Unions also regularly receive free or discounted access to federal property. At the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem, Virginia, a government union received half a hospital wing – more than 5,000 square feet, with a kitchen, private bathrooms and an outdoor terrace, primarily for the use of the union president.
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But the costs of the negotiations deserve just as much attention. The little information available paints a picture of significant spending on Picayune affairs. Last fall, Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, then chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee, documented how government unions were dragging out negotiations with federal agencies.
That includes haggling over the height of desk tops in cubicles, demanding designated smoking areas on tobacco-free federal property and recognizing employees’ right to wear spandex. Americans pay for every second that federal officials sit across from their union colleagues arguing about such issues, as well as for all the travel costs, paperwork and legal hurdles that come with it.
A new report from the Institute for the American Worker, The study, titled “Transparency Needed in the Process of Federal Collective Bargaining,” 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 responded, although none had complete documentation.
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The Small Business Administration spent more than $6 million in 2022 and 2023 on the salaries of employees involved in collective bargaining. The Labor Department spent more than $1 million on travel expenses. Considering that there are hundreds of federal agencies, these numbers represent only a fraction of the total costs incurred by taxpayers.
In the interests of taxpayers, the facts must come to light. Trump can provide true transparency by requiring agencies to annually disclose how much they spend on federal collective bargaining and the impact that spending has on the efficiency and effectiveness of government. Americans deserve to know how much they are paying to negotiate with unions over wearing spandex, smoking cigarettes, and everything else that has nothing to do with public service.
