Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee and Virginia Republican Rep. Ben Cline will reintroduce legislation Monday to prevent government workers from engaging in union-related work while on the clock.
Lee and Cline’s No Union Time on the Taxpayer’s Dime Act would end the practice of “official time”— paid time given to federal employees to perform union duties during work hours and using government office space. This practice costs taxpayers more than $100 million annually, according to data from the White House Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
“The American taxpayer should not be obligated to pay federal employees to engage in union activities,” according to a fact sheet Lee’s office sent the DCNF.
The bill’s reintroduction comes as President Donald Trump is seeking to end collective bargaining for a vast majority of government employees.
Trump signed an executive order on March 27 to end the union representation of federal employees with national security-related missions, including the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Department of State and Department of Energy. The move will terminate collective bargaining rights for more than one million federal workers, according to the American Federation of Government Employees.
“President Trump supports constructive partnerships with unions who work with him; he will not tolerate mass obstruction that jeopardizes his ability to manage agencies with vital national security missions,” the White House fact sheet on the executive order said.
OPM in March resumed tracking how much time and money federal employees spend on union-related activities in February after a four-year hiatus during former President Joe Biden’s term.
The office found that federal employees spent 2.6 million hours on official time costing American taxpayers at least $135 million in 2019.
“American taxpayers shouldn’t have to fund union organizing, and federal employees should be working full time for the American people when they’re on the clock,” Lee told the DCNF in a statement.
“Ending ‘official time’ is a commonsense step to ensure taxpayer dollars are used responsibly and to increase accountability across the federal workforce,” Cline told the DCNF. “Public funds should serve the American people, not private union interests.”
Lee and former Republican North Carolina Rep. Dan Bishop, current deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, introduced the legislation during the 118th Congress in July 2024. Neither bill advanced to a vote on the House or Senate floor.
Republican Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst and Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Scott Perry unveiled similar legislation in March to force government unions to reimburse taxpayers for federal employees’ use of official time, the DCNF first reported.
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