FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 17, 2025
April 17, 2025
Contact:
Brittany Holder
(202) 737-8700
[email protected]
Largest Union Representing VA Employees Outraged over VA Secretary’s “Absurd, Preposterous” Attack on Unions
Collins falsely claims AFGE-represented employees like housekeepers, cemetery workers perform national security functions, but those same jobs are not national security functions if represented by another union.
WASHINGTON – American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) National President Everett Kelley expressed outrage after VA Secretary Doug Collins selectively used his authority to deny union rights for VA employees represented by AFGE while preserving union rights for employees performing similar job functions who are not represented by AFGE.
Collins’ actions are a clear continuation of the administration’s coordinated, retaliatory behavior against AFGE members for exercising their first amendment rights to protest Trump administration policies, including chaotic cuts to government services spearheaded by Elon Musk’s DOGE.
“Secretary Collins made an outrageous, cowardly choice to attack AFGE-represented nurses, doctors, benefits specialists, housekeepers, electricians, painters, food service workers, crisis responders, mental health specialists, cemetery workers, and janitors at the VA by falsely claiming these workers are engaged in national security work,” said AFGE National President Everett Kelley.
“AFGE members at the VA, a third of whom are veterans themselves, have exercised their union rights through wars, terrorist attacks, a global pandemic, and the entirety of Trump’s first term without incident. These patriotic public servants’ union activity is not and never has been a threat to national security. But their voices are a threat to plans to cut 83,000 workers from the VA and turn veteran health care into a for-profit business, harming veterans across the country. That’s why Secretary Collins and the Trump administration want to silence them,” Kelley added.
On March 31, Kelley sent a letter to Secretary Collins urging him to use his authority to stand up to attempts to bully rank-and-file VA workers into silence. Instead, Collins cravenly capitulated to this illegal scheme to retaliate against five unions that represent nearly 400,000 of the VA’s 482,000 employees, all of whom are currently engaged in lawsuits against the Trump administration.
“This has nothing to do with national security and everything to do with retaliation against AFGE, the independent labor movement in America, and the veterans we serve at the VA,” Kelley continued. “That’s made clear by Secretary Collins absurd, preposterous claim that AFGE-represented cemetery workers, housekeepers, cooks, mechanics, nurses, and other healthcare employees are engaged in national security work, but those same groups of employees represented by other unions are not.”
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