Weekly Federal Labor Roundup — VA & AFGE News (July 20–24, 2026)

Here’s your weekly look at the news shaping life for Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) employees and federal workers. This week: unions head to court to defend bargaining rights, staffing cuts hit the government’s own personnel agency, and a few real wins land for workers.

VA & Veterans

• The VA is expanding virtual- and augmented-reality tools across its hospitals. Nextgov reports the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is scaling up “extended reality” (XR) technology — immersive headsets used for pain management, therapy, and clinical training — across its healthcare operations. Read more
• The VA is convening the council that guides its medical-school partnerships. A Federal Register notice announces meetings of the VA National Academic Affiliations Council, which advises on the training programs that bring residents and students into VA hospitals like ours in Hampton. Read more

Threats to Federal Workers’ Protections

• AFGE and a sister union are suing to stop the Defense Department from tearing up union contracts. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) asked a federal district court to block the Department of Defense (DoD) from gutting existing collective bargaining agreements. Read more
• Restoring federal workers’ bargaining rights tops Congress’s to-do list. AFGE reports that efforts to reverse recent rollbacks of collective bargaining rights — and to pass fiscal year 2027 (FY27) budgets before a funding deadline — are leading the agenda on Capitol Hill. Read more
• Lawmakers are scrambling to avoid another government shutdown. Government Executive reports Congress is working to keep the government funded, and some members are even floating doing away with shutdowns altogether. Read more
• The government’s own personnel agency has cut a third of its staff and wants to cut more. Government Executive reports the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) — which manages federal hiring, benefits, and retirement — has shrunk its workforce by roughly a third and is seeking further reductions. Read more
• Fired State Department workers rallied on Capitol Hill to warn about the fallout. AFGE reports that a rally underscored how mass firings at the State Department harm both the employees and the country they serve. Read more
• The airport-screeners’ union is fighting a new push to privatize security in three cities. AFGE says the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) union will fight plans to hand screening to private contractors in Tampa, Charleston, and Des Moines, warning that the flying public should be concerned. Read more
• Turnover across the federal government has hit record highs. The Partnership for Public Service documents “quiet chaos” — record churn in career and senior positions — and what that instability means for the services agencies deliver. Read more

Union Wins & the Bigger Picture

• An arbitrator ordered telework restored for IRS employees. Government Executive reports a labor arbitrator sided with the union and reinstated telework for Internal Revenue Service (IRS) workers after it was rolled back — a reminder that union contracts have teeth. Read more
• OPM is finally fixing a retirement gap for federal first responders. Nextgov reports the Office of Personnel Management is moving to implement a long-awaited correction to retirement benefits for federal police, firefighters, and other first responders. Read more
• Union leaders fired up a pro-worker crowd at the NAACP convention. People’s World reports AFGE National President Everett Kelley and a teachers’-union leader joined forces at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) gathering to rally support for working people. Read more
• Where you retire from may matter as much as the benefit itself. Government Executive explains why the quality of a federal employee’s retirement can depend heavily on which agency processes it — useful context as you plan ahead. Read more

Have a question about how any of this affects you at the Hampton VA Medical Center? Reach out — that’s what your local is here for.

In solidarity,
AFGE Local 2328 — Representing the employees of Hampton VA Medical Center