As of August 2025, a bombshell report from the Trump-led Office of Personnel Management (OPM) exposes a staggering 3.2 million hours—over 1,500 full-time equivalents—wasted by federal employees on union work in 2024, costing taxpayers a jaw-dropping $207 million.
This outpaces the $135 million in 2019 and $177 million in 2016, despite fewer hours than the latter, revealing a costly per-hour surge. Agencies like the VA ($40 million for 746,000 hours), DHS ($34 million), and DOD ($25 million) lead this waste, with historical outliers like USAID (50.1%) and State Department (82%) employees submerged in union tasks in 2019—figures that shockingly illustrate how deeply union work has infiltrated the federal government.
Contrast this with the Biden administration’s glaring lack of transparency, having withheld any similar data since Trump’s 2019 release. Trump’s proactive OPM, however, stepped up, delivering this critical update and exposing a systemic issue.
The revelation that 78% of 2024’s union time falls under vague “general labor-management relations” hints at possible misuse, especially post the 2018 Janus v. AFSCME ruling against mandatory dues. This pervasive union influence, siphoning resources from public service, demands immediate reform—it’s a surprise this deep entanglement has gone unchecked for so long.
OPM gave me the report, and the numbers are staggering:
— Tyler O'Neil (@Tyler2ONeil) August 7, 2025
1⃣Federal employees spent 3.2 million hours working for a union.
2⃣They billed the taxpayer $207 million for this work.
3⃣This represented about 11% of their work hours.
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