The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has begun releasing new reports detailing the cost of official time and other labor relations activities, and the most recent report reveals that taxpayer‑funded union time compensation costs surged to more than $207 million in FY 2024—a 53.75% increase over FY 2019.
Official time reports stopped being published during the Biden administration, so the last available report is from FY 2019. The new data appear in the fiscal year 2024 report, the first comprehensive official time report issued in about five years after the Trump administration resumed collection and distribution of the data.
OPM also just released a supplemental report on collective bargaining expenses, which documented over $180 million in FY 2024 costs tied to bargaining, arbitration, and agency‑provided resources for unions. Together, the two reports provide the clearest picture in years of the scale and growth of taxpayer‑funded labor‑management activity across the federal government.
Official Time Costs Jump 53.75%
The FY 2024 report provides the most detailed accounting of official time since 2019 and shows a significant increase in total reported costs related to taxpayer-funded union time (TFUT).
The report states:
From FY 2019 to 2024, Federal agencies experienced only a 3.92 percent increase in the number of employees represented by labor unions, yet a much more staggering increase (24.32 percent) in the number of TFUT hours used by unions to represent those constituents with a 53.75 percent increase in compensation costs (salary and benefits) for the Federal government. 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the number of bargaining unit employee and TFUT hours is likely a result of previous administration policies that rescinded the policies of the first President Trump Administration and encouraged collective bargaining, pre-decisional involvement, and labor-management forums;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.
| Fiscal Year | Total Compensation Costs (Salary + Benefits) | % Change vs Prior Comparable Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | $134,987,041.47 | — |
| 2024 | $207,540,736.82 | increase |
TFUT hours increased from 2,606,390 in FY 2019 to 3,240,143 in FY 2024, with the TFUT rate rising from 1.96 to 2.35. The TFUT rate, which represents the number of taxpayer-funded union time hours utilized per bargaining unit employee within a fiscal year, facilitates comparisons of taxpayer-funded union time usage across the government.
| Category | FY 2024 | FY 2019 | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total TFUT Hours | 3,240,143.21 | 2,606,390.28 | +24.32% |
| TFUT Rate (hours per bargaining‑unit employee) | 2.35 | 1.96 | +19.74% |
Collective Bargaining Expenses: Another $180 Million in FY 2024
Separate from official time, OPM’s January 2026 supplemental report documented:
- Approximately $181.6 million in FY 2024 collective bargaining expenses for both unions and management
- Personnel Compensation: $131.37 million (72.3% of total costs)
- Non-Personnel Expenses: $50.24 million (27.7% of total costs), including arbitral fees, travel, office space, and penalties
Data from the report are based on 54 out of the 67 agencies that submitted their collective bargaining expenses data to OPM, representing 89% of the total bargaining unit population. However, 13 agencies (the remaining 11% of the total bargaining unit population) failed to provide the data required by OPM.
Historical Governmentwide Official Time Hours, Rates, and Salary Costs
Except for 2019, the total costs and hours spent on official time have increased steadily since 2011.
| Fiscal Year | Official Time Hours | Official Time Rate (Hours per BU Employee) | Salary Cost of Official Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 2,606,390 | 1.96 | $134,987,041 |
| 2016 | 3,611,112 | 2.95 | $174,789,810 |
| 2014 | 3,468,170 | 2.88 | $162,522,763 |
| 2012 | 3,439,449 | 2.81 | $157,196,468 |
| 2011 | 3,395,187 | 2.82 | $155,573,739 |
What is “Official Time”?
Official time (also referred to as “taxpayer-funded union time”) is paid time given by a federal agency to eligible employees (typically union representatives or stewards) to perform certain representational activities on behalf of the union or bargaining unit employees instead of their regular assigned duties. This time is considered hours of work, with no loss of pay or charge to leave, provided the employee would otherwise be in a duty status.
OPM defines the practice in this way:
“Official time,” as authorized by 5 U.S.C. § 7131, is paid time spent by Federal employees performing representational work for a bargaining unit in lieu of their regularly assigned work. In other words, the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) has equated official time to be the same as work time or hours of work.
Transparency in Federal Labor‑Management Spending After Years of Reporting Gaps
OPM Director Scott Kupor issued a memo on January 30, 2026, reinstating mandatory official time reporting for FY 2025 and beyond.
In his blog post “Show Me the Money,” Kupor framed the issue bluntly, arguing that taxpayers deserve to know how much federal labor‑management activity costs:
Every dollar spent on prolonged bargaining is a dollar not spent on mission execution. Every hour devoted to negotiating procedures is an hour not spent improving outcomes for the American people.
He emphasized that many bargaining disputes involve procedural matters rather than pay or benefits, which federal unions cannot negotiate under statute. Kupor described the current system as “costly and ineffective,” with some employees spending 50% to 100% of their work hours on union duties funded entirely by taxpayers.
FY 2024 Taxpayer‑Funded Collective Bargaining Expenses Governmentwide
| Expense Category | Total (USD) |
|---|---|
| Compensation to Negotiate Term CBAs | $47,782,041.34 |
| Compensation to Negotiate Midterm Agreements | $25,707,323.29 |
| Compensation for Mediation, Arbitration, and Impasse Resolution | $57,881,808.67 |
| Arbitral Fees | $6,335,210.83 |
| Travel and Lodging | $1,141,524.59 |
| Expert Assistance | $276,881.53 |
| Factfinder, Mediator, and Arbitrator Expenses | $211,506.48 |
| Administrative Support | $5,621,462.57 |
| Technology | $2,493,221.28 |
| Office Space (FMV) | $22,622,518.80 |
| Penalties and Settlements | $11,534,433.34 |
| Total | $181,607,932.72 |
What Comes Next
Official time has long been a partisan flashpoint, with Republican administrations typically pushing for limits and transparency and Democratic administrations more likely to expand or protect the practice.
With mandatory reporting reinstated under the Trump administration and two major reports now published, the federal labor‑management landscape is entering a period of renewed scrutiny. Key developments to watch include:
- The future release of the FY 2025 official time report; agencies are required to submit data by February 23, 2026
- Potential policy or regulatory changes aimed at reducing prolonged bargaining
- Increased congressional oversight of union representational activities
- Possible legal or political pushback from federal unions
Kupor’s stated goal is a federal workforce “focused on results,” not one “buried under layers of costly and ineffective process.”
