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:
AFGE’s National Veterans Affairs Council (NVAC) went back to court last week to prevent the Department of Veterans Affairs from illegally terminating our collective bargaining agreement covering more than 320,000 VA employees.
AFGE along with two federal employees filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last week challenging the agency’s refusal to process federal-sector class complaints pending before its administrative judges.
Two newly introduced bills and another that’s moving through Congress would expand paid family and medical leave for federal employees, make it easier to secure medical care and related benefits for workplace injuries, and address unsafe air and ventilation issues in federal buildings.