Implementation Instructions for the Termination of Certain Collective Bargaining Agreements

This implementation guidance operationalizes Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's April 9, 2026 memorandum directing the termination of nearly all Department of Defense collective bargaining agreements pursuant to Executive Order 14,251 ("Exclusions from Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs"). The memo enumerated narrow carve-outs (police officers, firefighters, security guards, and federal wage system trades employees at four named installations covered by an April 23, 2025 Secretary of Defense certification) and recognized court-ordered injunctions protecting the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers and the Federal Education Association. For all other employees, the guidance directed the termination of bargaining negotiations and information notices, the cessation of taxpayer-funded union time and dues processing, return of union officials to their full-time roles, reclamation of all government-issued union property, termination of pending grievances filed under the negotiated grievance process (with non-exempt employees given 15 days to transition eligible grievances to the administrative grievance procedure), and suspension of unfair labor practice proceedings pending litigation outcomes.