The president of the local union that represents some federal workers in Maine said the Trump administration's elimination of collective bargaining agreements could impact the care that veterans receive.
On Wednesday, Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins terminated collective bargaining agreements for more than 350,000 unionized employees, making the VA one of the first agencies to move forward with an executive order signed by President Trump in March.
While Collins said the move will improve veterans care and allow managers to make the best staffing decisions, union officials blasted the decision as a step toward eliminating tens of thousands of jobs at the agency. The contracts covered a wide range of VA employees, including doctors, nurses, mental health specialists and support staff.
Liz Harkins, the Tri-State president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2604, said Thursday that VA employees are the biggest advocates for veterans.
"We are the boots on the ground when it comes to veterans' care," said Harkins. "And I do not believe that the upper management (and) administration have the first-hand experience of what we have when it comes to our veterans' care and how we advocate for them and we fight for them. And now we risk the retaliation for fighting for them."
The AFGE Local 2604 represents roughly 2,000 VA workers in southern Maine as well as workers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. Maine has one of nation's highest percentages of veterans as well as the oldest population in the country.
Collective bargaining agreements are different for federal employees than for unionized workers in the private sector. For instance, they do not involve negotiations over wages. But the federal collective bargaining agreements address working conditions, grievance procedures, personnel policies and other worker protections.
In March, Trump issued an executive order that aimed to end collective bargaining agreements for unionized workers across much of the federal government, citing national security reasons. Unions filed lawsuits to block the terminations, which they said amounted to little more than union-busting by the administration. But a federal appellate court allowed the administration to move forward with those plans last week.
“Too often, unions that represent VA employees fight against the best interests of veterans while protecting and rewarding bad workers,” Collins said in announcing the termination of the agreements. "We’re making sure VA resources and employees are singularly focused on the job we were sent here to do: providing top-notch care and service to those who wore the uniform.”
But Harkins described the change as a way for the agency to move forward with plans to eliminate 30,000 jobs by removing worker protections. Many VA workers are veterans themselves, Harkins said, and she predicted the result will be delays in care and services for veterans as well as more challenges for the VA to retain or recruit dedicated employees.
"It is going to affect our veterans," she said. "(Workers) are scared, they are going to leave, they don't want to put up with it. That is the consensus that I got today when people were calling."
