Federal workers lose paid time for union representation
S. 1313 — No Union Time on the Taxpayer's Dime Act · Filed by Mike Lee (R-UT) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Apr 7, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill eliminates 'official time'—a federal benefit that allows union representatives to conduct union business during work hours while being paid by taxpayers. Under current law, federal employees can spend a portion of their paid work time on union activities. This bill repeals that allowance and requires all union-related work to happen on the employee's own time, off the clock.
Why we flagged it
The bill directly amends federal labor law to eliminate a specific workplace benefit (official time for union representatives). It is a straightforward policy choice about the allocation of paid work time, not a hidden rider or concealed mechanism.
What the text implies
- Elimination of official time may reduce union capacity to represent members in workplace disputes, grievances, and contract negotiations, potentially shifting power toward management in federal labor relations.
- Federal employees who are union stewards or officers will need to conduct union business entirely outside paid hours, effectively reducing their compensation for union duties relative to non-union peers.
- The change may affect union organizing and membership retention in the federal workforce, as the resource cost of union participation increases for individual members.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Federal employees and union members lose a workplace benefit (paid time for union representation), which may reduce their ability to organize and advocate collectively. However, taxpayers stop funding union activity during paid work hours, which some view as a public-interest gain. The trade-off is genuine: worker voice and collective-bargaining infrastructure vs. direct public expenditure on union operations.
Named in the bill
Federal employees, Labor unions, U.S. Office of Personnel Management, 5 U.S.C. § 7131
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Republicans.
- Apr 7, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Apr 7, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 3 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $860,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 67 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.
Mike Lee, the sponsor, reported $241,000 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- National Treasury Employees Union — $690,000 on 2 filings
- National Right to Work Committee — $170,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (638 characters) on May 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Federal workers lose paid time for union representation” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s1313 Report an error
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