The 11th episode of AFGE’s new series, The Activist, highlighting our union members who have stepped up to help make a difference in the lives of their colleagues and our government.
LaVawn is a veterans service representative at VBA Philadelphia Regional Office and Insurance Center. She has been a member of AFGE Local 940 since 2006. Her job is to help veterans file claims for service-connected disabilities.
She joined AFGE after discovering that the work they were doing wasn’t recorded correctly for the purposes of performance. She noticed that something needed to change, and when she talked to management, she was stonewalled.
“So the employee that I sat next to was a union rep, and he said you would be perfect for the union. You asked the right questions. They would never answer them, but you asked the right questions,” she recalled. “I became a union member and shortly afterward a steward.”
Besides getting to make a difference, being a union member provides her with a lot of benefits, including additional training for upward mobility, education benefits, and assistance with personal goals.
Listen to LaVawn talk about what it’s like working for the VBA:
Our country has seen many so-called fiscal commissions, and each one of them has failed to produce meaningful change. So why are some voices in both parties floating the idea again?
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AFGE Local 17 President Douglas Massey last week testified before a congressional committee, detailing issues that impede the work of attorneys who adjudicate veterans’ claims and making recommendations on how to improve the process and better serve veterans.
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An investigation into a whistleblower retaliation case championed by AFGE Local 1534 concludes in our union’s favor that an employee has indeed been wrongfully retaliated against.
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