Join the Solidarity Picket Line!

The VA announced it ceased to recognize the union contract. This action is illegal.  The VA took this action because the union has successfully stopped attacks on federal workers, and they hope to break the union. They have been evicted from their offices and members are being denied representation.

“We will not surrender,” AFGE Local 2547 president Patrick Kearns said. “We fought and won against the last Trump administration, and we will win again.”

“Our strength comes from our members and the labor movement,” Kearns continued. “A contract is a piece of paper and means nothing without the labor movement standing to defend our rights.We ask everyone to come out and support us. We must stand up and fight back.”

Here is the press release:

Save Our VA: Wednesday Picket to Protest Attacks on VA Health Care

VA health care workers, veterans, labor unions, and community supporters will hold a solidarity picket Wednesday, August 27^th outside the Iowa City VA Medical Center to protest escalating Trump administration attacks on VA care, VA employees, and their union.

WHAT: “Save Our VA” Community Solidarity Picket

WHEN:  3:30-5:15, Wednesday, August 27

WHERE: VA Medical Center, 601 HWY 6 West, Iowa City

WHO:     VA health care members of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 2547, veterans and families, labor unions, and community supporters

Federal employees have faced months of Trump administration attacks at the VA and other federal agencies, including illegal mass firings, arbitrary hiring freezes, and reckless termination of thousands of probationary employees in already understaffed facilities. Now the Secretary of Veterans Affairs has announced immediate termination of all union contracts with the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) which has for decades protected the rights and working conditions of VA health care workers in Iowa City and across the country.

AFGE members have strongly opposed proposals to cut thousands of VA staff or diminish VA standards of care, and this year have challenged many Trump administration actions in court. In retaliation, Trump and VA Secretary Douglas Collins are moving to attack AFGE directly, trying to strip workers of their union contracts, their voice, and their collective defense of VA care.  In their attacks on AFGE, the President and Secretary Collins specifically cite the union’s successful fight against unlawful actions of the Trump administration and the VA Secretary.

AFGE 2547 will picket locally in Iowa CIty to oppose the actions of VA Secretary Collins and publicize the following statement of principles and demands: 

·        AFGE and our members believe the VA must be accountable to the people and carry out its mission with dedication. VA has delivered the highest quality care of any healthcare system, private or public, with lower costs and highest satisfaction ratings of any healthcare provider in America.

·        We demand that Secretary Collins stop the destructive hiring freeze that is negatively affecting the delivery of care in the VA system and cease his attacks on dedicated VA workers who believe in the mission of VA and want to deliver the best care possible.

·        We demand that Secretary Collins reverse his unlawful orders regarding our union rights.

·        We demand Congress—including our HD-1 Representative Marianette Miller-Meeks and Iowa Senators Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley—take action to protect veterans’ health care and the rights of federal workers, starting with signing on to HR 2550, theProtect America’s Workforce Act to restore federal workers’ bargaining rights. Our Iowa Congressional delegation has remained shamefully silent about attacks on VA workers and patients, and has done nothing to ensure the VA is not dismantled.

Iowa City VA workers report that hiring freezes have already resulted in loss of RN, physician, and patient care staff positions, impacting the medical center’s ability to function. Staff are being moved from one position to another or often working two positions, putting patient and staff safety at risk. Unfilled vacancies currently exist in every area of the hospital.

As VA nurse Patrick Kearns, RN, and President of AFGE local 2547 put it, “Our patients get the best care when we can deliver that care safely and advocate for our patients. The union is there to speak truth to power. Healthcare is too important to be treated as political spoils for private interests. It seems that Secretary Collins’ goal is to make VA fail and convert taxpayer dollars to private profit.”

If you can’t be there in person, contact our federal elected officials. A contract is a contract. The government must honor it.

Contact Information for Our Senators and U.S House Representative

Chuck Grassley- Cedar Rapids office – (319) 363-6832 Washington D.C. office – (202) 224-3744 – Email

Joni Ernst – Cedar Rapids office – (319) 365-4504 Washington D.C. office – (202) 224-3254 – Email

Mariannette Miller-Meeks – Davenport office – (563) 232-0930 Washington D.C. office -(202) 225-6576 – Email

Please remember to show staff members who answer kindness when you are speaking to them.

Hope to see you at the VA on Wednesday.