Senior members of Congress, along with the newly elected leader of AFGE’s National Veterans Affairs Council, are defending the right of VA employees to join and form a union following a Washington Post editorial supporting President Trump’s order barring collective bargaining at the VA and other federal agencies.
On Dec. 1, the Washington Post published an editorial encouraging lawmakers to reject legislation that would restore collective bargaining rights for hundreds of thousands of federal workers.
In response, three lawmakers with VA oversight responsibilities in Congress – Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif.; and Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-Ill. – defended federal workers’ union rights in a letter to the editor published by the outlet Dec. 9. Union rights help protect rank-and-file workers when they blow the whistle on issues affecting the care and delivery of services to veterans, they wrote.
“The unionized VA workforce has consistently been an essential steward for patient safety and a voice against the executive branch’s potential despotism. Unions also give employees the confidence and safety needed to blow the whistle on their concerns. Federal unions cannot strike, nor can they negotiate their pay,” the lawmakers wrote.
“Backing unions is increasingly critical in the face of the Trump administration’s unprecedented assault on the VA workforce. This administration has proved it cannot be relied on to provide the information needed for oversight.”
In a separate letter to the editor published the same day, newly elected AFGE National VA Council President M.J. Burke said the Washington Post editorial distorted the role of unions at the VA and also federal labor law.
“Federal unions do not negotiate pay or benefits. Compensation for VA employees is set entirely by Congress and the presidential administration. VA unions negotiate workplace conditions that help staff do their jobs safely and effectively,” Burke wrote.
“The editorial presented a false choice between union rights and quality care. Union representation is often the first line of accountability: It protects whistleblowers, gives employees a safe channel to flag patient safety issues and provides a check on mismanagement or political pressure that could compromise care. Removing the voice of frontline workers doesn’t make the system more efficient; it makes it more fragile.”
The Washington Post editorial accused labor unions of shielding “the worst government employees from accountability” – citing an example in which AFGE successfully defended a VA employee who was facing disciplinary actions.
“The editorial included an example of wrongdoing where VA’s legal team was unable to enforce disciplinary actions in a manner that could withstand a legal challenge. That was VA’s failure, not the union’s,” the lawmakers wrote.
“The editorial board is right: Veterans deserve better. They deserve a VA workforce that comes forward with concerns about poor patient care, waste, fraud and abuse without fear of retaliation. Unions are essential to this mission.”
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