Posts tagged VA Employee Fairness Act
The House Passes a Bill to Give VA Medical Employees Greater Union Rights
December 20, 2022 // The VA Employee Fairness Act would grant medical professionals the right to bargain over scheduling and official time, and to file grievances over pay disputes. Physicians, dentists, registered nurses and physician assistants at the VA are hired under Title 38 of the U.S. Code, which prohibits collective bargaining over care and competency issues, as determined by the department’s secretary. During the Trump administration, that exception to collective bargaining was vastly expanded—and labor leaders and Democrats say, exploited—to include issues such as shift scheduling. Then-VA Secretary Robert Wilkie used it to ban Title 38 union officials from accessing official time altogether.
Unions Are Making a Last-Ditch Effort to Expand Bargaining Rights for VA Medical Professionals
September 30, 2022 // Officials with multiple federal employee unions on Tuesday urged congressional leaders to call up legislation expanding collective bargaining rights for medical professionals at the Veterans Affairs Department for a vote.