Sharda Fornnarino got the news in early August.

The Department of Veterans Affairs was ending nearly all of its collective bargaining agreements. The agency gave labor unions just days to get out of federal buildings.

"We went in on the weekend, and we emptied our office space," says Fornnarino, an outpatient surgery nurse at the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center outside Denver, where she's also local director for National Nurses United.

Federal employees have had the right to join unions and collectively bargain over working conditions since the 1960s. Unlike private sector workers, government employees cannot negotiate wages or strike. But through collective bargaining, they do help shape disciplinary procedures, parental leave policies, how overtime is managed and much more.

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