A new report put the value of providing free office space and use of agency resources to unions at nearly $29 million in 2024, up about $4 million from 2019. Image: Pressmaster/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffUse of official time—what the Trump administration calls taxpayer-funded union time—rose by 24 percent over 2019-2024, a period in which the number of union-represented federal employees increased by 3.9 percent, according to an OPM report.
The report, posted without an announcement and currently unavailable on the OPM site, calls that a “staggering increase” in those hours, during which employees with union roles can perform certain union-related duties on the clock. Those duties include for example contract negotiations and representing employees in disciplinary cases, but not internal union business such as recruiting.
“The disproportionate increases between the number of bargaining unit employee and TFUT hours is likely a result of previous administration policies that rescinded the policies of the first President Trump Administration and encouraged collective bargaining, pre-decisional involvement, and labor-management forums; increases in employment costs; and other factors,” it says.
The report—which excludes the USPS—showed 3.2 million hours of official time used in fiscal 2024, an increase from the 2.6 million in the most recent prior report covering 2019, while the average number of hours used per bargaining unit employee rose 1.96 to 2.35. Agencies put the cost at $208 million vs. the earlier $135 million; the increase in part reflects salary increases during that time.
The prior report covering 2019 had showed a drop from the previous accounting covering 2016, reflecting orders from the first Trump administration telling agencies to cut back the number of hours they would agree to in bargaining. Hours had fallen by 28 percent, the average number of hours per bargaining unit employee from 2.97, and the salary cost attributable to official time had decreased by 24 percent.
The new report meanwhile put the value of providing free office space and use of agency resources to unions at nearly $29 million in 2024, up about $4 million from 2019. The value of other related expenses such as travel reimbursement fell from $3.5 million to $2.5 million.
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