(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - The American Federation of Government Employees National Veterans Affairs Council (AFGE/NVAC), the largest Union representing more than 320,000 Employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs, is celebrating the unanimous decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit to uphold the reinstatement of the largest Collective Bargaining Agreement of VA employees.

The VA filed a motion for an emergency stay with the First Circuit following a March 13th preliminary injunction that ordered the VA to reinstate AFGE/NVAC’s master Collective Bargaining Agreement pending resolution of a lawsuit filed by AFGE/NVAC challenging its retaliatory termination by VA Secretary Doug Collins on August 6th, 2025. 

The VA argued that it was likely to prevail on the merits of AFGE/NVAC’s Constitutional and statutory claims, and further, that it would suffer “irreparable harm” by having to comply with the Union contract while its appeal was adjudicated by the First Circuit.

In their decision denying the VA’s emergency motion to stay the preliminary injunction, the three-Judge panel stated: The defendants have not shown that the preliminary injunction likely was issued in error. Accordingly, we must separately account for the public's interest in the CBA - which is provided for and governed by Federal law - being kept in place as a binding agreement until lawfully terminated. The defendants have not made the requisite ‘strong showing’ in their stay motion that they are likely to succeed in challenging the preliminary injunction in their pending appeal. Nor have they shown that staying that injunction in the interim would not cause substantial injury to the plaintiffs or the public.

To Read Statements Issued By AFGE National VA Council President MJ Burke And AFGE National President Everett Kelley, Go To: AFGE | AFGE National VA Council Celebrates Appeals Court Decision Upholding Reinstatement of Its Union Contract

AFGE File Photo.