As senior leaders of Congress’s Committees on Veterans’ Affairs, and longtime advocates of empowering the Department of Veterans Affairs workforce to better serve veterans, we were concerned by the Dec. 7 editorial “America’s veterans deserve better care than government unions provide.”
The unionized VA workforce has consistently been an essential steward for patient safety and a voice against the executive branch’s potential despotism. Unions also give employees the confidence and safety needed to blow the whistle on their concerns. Federal unions cannot strike, nor can they negotiate their pay.
Backing unions is increasingly critical in the face of the Trump administration’s unprecedented assault on the VA workforce. This administration has proved it cannot be relied on to provide the information needed for oversight. Instead, Congress and veterans must rely on unions and whistleblowers to ensure accountability. The president’s March 27 executive order, which curtailed collective bargaining among federal employees, is just one example of this administration’s efforts to destroy VA workplace protections. These efforts, carried out by VA Secretary Doug Collins, have discouraged employees from speaking up, leaving employees fearful to report concerns to trusted watchdogs like the inspector general.
The editorial included an example of wrongdoing where VA’s legal team was unable to enforce disciplinary actions in a manner that could withstand a legal challenge. That was VA’s failure, not the union’s.
The editorial board is right: Veterans deserve better. They deserve a VA workforce that comes forward with concerns about poor patient care, waste, fraud and abuse without fear of retaliation. Unions are essential to this mission.
Richard Blumenthal, Mark Takano and Nikki Budzinski, Washington
Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, is a senator from Connecticut; Mark Takano, a Democrat, represents California in the U.S. House; and Nikki Budzinski, a Democrat, represents Illinois in the U.S. House.
The Dec. 7 editorial “America’s veterans deserve better care than government unions provide” distorted not only the role of unions at the Department of Veterans Affairs but also federal labor law.
Federal unions do not negotiate pay or benefits. Compensation for VA employees is set entirely by Congress and the presidential administration. VA unions negotiate workplace conditions that help staff do their jobs safely and effectively.
The editorial presented a false choice between union rights and quality care. Union representation is often the first line of accountability: It protects whistleblowers, gives employees a safe channel to flag patient safety issues and provides a check on mismanagement or political pressure that could compromise care. Removing the voice of frontline workers doesn’t make the system more efficient; it makes it more fragile.
Studies show that veterans receive better health care outcomes at a lower cost to taxpayers at VA facilities compared with care in the private sector.
Finally, official time and space were portrayed in the editorial as waste. However, these resources are routinely used to resolve disputes early: Think about addressing issues arising out of staffing shortages, potential miscommunication and agency protocols. Those activities save money and help veterans by preventing problems before they negatively affect health outcomes.
We don’t honor veterans by sidelining the people who care for them; nearly 30 percent of whom are veterans themselves. We honor them by upholding the democratic principles they fought for.
Mary Jean “MJ” Burke, Indianapolis
The writer is president of the American Federation of Government Employees National Veterans Affairs Council.
Uncovering Virginia’s ancient landscape
Regarding Dana Milbank’s Dec. 1 Health & Science article “Scientists discover an ancient landscape — in our own backyard”:
Both historical and pollen evidence shows clearly that the Mid-Atlantic region was forested in precolonial times, at least since the last Ice Age. Though pollen evidence is slim for Virginia because the region lacks the abundance of postglacial lakes found in glaciated areas to the north, studies of pollen records in sediments of the Chesapeake Bay indicate a mostly forested landscape. Not until the mid-18th century were forests cleared by European settlers to make way for larger-scale agriculture. By the mid-19th century, almost all the forest had been cut at least once, and agricultural fields dominated the landscape, as evidenced by pollen and historical records.
Much of current forest vegetation grows on abandoned farm fields. Trees almost always grow naturally on these fields because their growth is supported by the climate. Only a very small amount of the area that is continually disturbed, including by mowing to prevent trees from growing, supports the amazing prairie communities Milbank wrote about.
Studies have not found specific reasons for their distribution based on local geology, soils or topography. They deserve a deeper dive into their history, including the past century of changing land uses, rather than sweeping inferences about causation based on limited evidence.
Emily Southgate, Middleburg, Virginia
The writer is president of the Piedmont Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society and author of “People and the Land Through Time. Linking Ecology and History.”
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