NASA spent almost $900K on taxpayer-funded union time last year

New York Post

22-05-2025

NASA spent more than double what it originally reported on taxpayer-funded union time — where federal employees perform union-related duties while being paid by the government — last year, fresh data from the space agency revealed.
Originally, NASA reported an expense of $417,798 on union time, but now the space agency is updating that figure to $893,620 over the 12 months ending Sept. 30, The Post has learned.
'As has been the case with other federal agencies under the Biden administration, NASA bureaucrats were racking up an astronomical tab doing union time on the taxpayers' dime,' Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), whose office requested the data, told The Post.
'We need to end the absurd practice of taxpayer-funded union time across government to ensure that federal employees serve the American people, not themselves.'
3 NASA admitted that it initially undercounted its spending on union time.
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3 Sen. Joni Ernst has been probing federal spending on union time.
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NASA also spent more than previously known on union activities in 2023. Initially, the space agency reported spending $477,204 in fiscal year 2023, but now the agency is updating those figures to $636,189.
Meanwhile, its budget shrank from $25.4 billion in fiscal year 2023 to $24.88 billion in fiscal year 2024.
Taxpayer-funded union time includes labor meetings, union-sponsored training activities, preparations for collective bargaining, work on behalf of those facing disciplinary action and more.
Due to the Federal Service Labor Management Relations Statute, federal unions can't negotiate with Uncle Sam on pay or benefits, which are determined by legal and regulatory policy.
Instead, federal unions negotiate over smaller-scale issues such as workplace procedures and telework policies.
'They're left negotiating for tedious things that are of zero or negative benefit to taxpayers,' Rachel Greszler, a senior research fellow on workforce and public finance at the Heritage Foundation, previously explained to The Post.
'This includes things like the height of cubicle panels, securing designated smoking areas on otherwise smoke-free campuses, and the right to wear Spandex at work.'
3 NASA saw its budget shrink between 2023 and 2024, but taxpayer-funded union time shot up.
Christopher Sadowski
In 2023, there were 43 employees at NASA who logged in taxpayer-funded union time, with about 6,588.5 hours of union work done that year.
By 2024, that jumped to 49, with 8,780.25 union work done, according to the new data.
NASA is covered by two prominent federal unions — the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers and the American Federation of Government Employees.
Ernst, who chairs the Senate DOGE Caucus, has been seeking to end the practice of taxpayer-funded union time and fired off a slew of requests to 24 government agencies demanding data.
NASA had been one of the first to respond.
In a statement to The Post, the agency said it always 'complies with federal law.'
'In keeping with precedent, NASA is committed to providing transparency to those conducting oversight in the legislative branch,' a spokesperson said.
'NASA complies with federal law, allowing employees to be granted official time to perform certain labor union representation activities.'
So far, of the agencies that have divulged data to Ernst's office, the largest expenditure on taxpayer-funded union time came from the Defense Health Agency, which spent $3.3 million on it in fiscal years 2023 and 2024.
DHA is tasked with overseeing TRICARE benefits for military members.
The Office of Personnel Management used to collect comprehensive data on taxpayer-funded union time, but stopped after 2019. In February, the Trump administration pushed agencies to report that data.
In 2019, OPM found that the entire federal government had spent at least $135 million on taxpayer-funded union time. NASA spent $641,037 in 2019, according to the OPM data.