DECATUR, Ga. — Nurses and their supporters rallied outside the Department of Veteran Affairs hospital here Aug. 12 protesting the termination of their union contract and proposed cuts in staffing.
“On Aug. 6, the government canceled our union contract,” Florence Uzuegbunam, a member of National Nurses United, told the Militant. NNU represents more than 1,200 registered nurses at this Atlanta VA Medical Center.
“Without a union contract we will have no control over conditions where we work and this puts patients at risk,” she said, adding they were told to vacate and take everything out of the union office.
A union statement said some 16,000 National Nurses United members at 23 facilities would be affected by the termination of the union contracts.
In announcing the decision, the Department of Veterans Affairs told the press the space the unions used had “cost VA millions of dollars in lost rent and expenses.”
In addition to the National Nurses United, the VA said union contracts were also terminated for the American Federation of Government Employees, the National Association of Government Employees, the National Federation of Federal Employees and the Service Employees International Union.
The nurses were also protesting proposed cuts of 55% of the staff in the Mental Health Intensive Case Management team, which helps veterans with serious mental issues.
“We never had enough staff to begin with, especially in a lot of our critical service areas,” nurse Teshara Felder said. “The positions being cut or reorganized ultimately cause a reduction in services to veterans.”
Nurses joined the protest on their lunch or on breaks. A number of veterans also attended. “The VA saved my life, was my support,” Ed Anderson said. “I’m against any layoffs, terminations or cutbacks in services.”
“In my 40 years I saw a lot of what soldiers had to go through,” Bridget, a retired military nurse who only gave her first name, said. “I had to show up today.”