The 10th 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.
Dave Bump is AFGE Local 2157 second vice president at the Veterans Benefit Administration in Portland, Oregon. He grew up in a union family and joined AFGE because he wanted to have a voice on the job. He has been an AFGE member for 22 years.
Dave first got involved in the union when he worked in the Milwaukee regional office, first as a steward. When the local vice president for VBA was retiring, he was asked to fulfill the rest of his term before being elected to more terms. Once he moved to Portland, he got involved in the union the same way, by volunteering first and then getting elected.
Being a union officer allows him to meet new people, travel to help different union members he represents, and provide great diversity in his days since he also does a lot of work for the National VA Council as a national representative.
Listen to Dave talk about his job at the VBA and how it helps veterans:
In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit kept the largest collective bargaining agreement covering Department of Veterans Affairs employees in place.
The Trump administration’s plans to replace many of the career federal employees who ensure the safety of the flying public with private contractors ignores the lessons learned from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and would result in weaker airport security.
In response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in April undermining a key tenant of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, AFGE National President Everett Kelley recently joined more than 5,600 concerned citizens in Alabama to protest the decision and its impact on marginalized communities nationwide.