A few of our stories and columns are now in front of the paywall. We at The Chief-Leader remain committed to independent reporting on labor and civil service. It's been our mission since 1897. You can have a hand in ensuring that our reporting remains relevant in the decades to come. Consider supporting The Chief, which you can do for as little as $3.20 a month.
This story has been updated to include comments from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Members of three American Federation for Government Employees locals rallied outside the Veterans Administration hospital on East 23rd Street Wednesday to protest a Trump administration plan to fire tens of thousands of VA staffers, saying the layoffs would compromise care for veterans.
An internal memo from the VA's chief of staff, Christopher Syrek, in March called for a return to 2019 staffing levels, when the VA numbered about 400,000 employees. The memo cited a “Department-wide review of mission, organization, and structure” called for by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. The VA employed about 479,000 workers as of early February.
The Biden administration expanded the VA under the 2022 PACT Act, which broadened care and benefits and provided support for veterans injured by burn pits, Agent Orange and other toxic material. The proposed staffing reductions, which the memo noted would begin in August, could amount to upwards of 83,000 employees.
“Our veterans serve because they believe in the idea of America and in return we owe them an unbreakable promise, that we will stand by them when they come home,” said Democratic Representative Jerry Nadler, who joined national AFGE leadership in front of the Margaret Cochran Corbin VA Campus on the cool spring afternoon.
“Without a fully staffed and supported VA, our veterans will suffer at the hands of Donald Trump,” Nadler continued. “Thousands of jobs are at risk, and even more lives hang in the balance.”
This is the second time in two months Nadler has spoken in front of the Kips Bay facility to protest staffing cuts. He spoke at a rally organized by National Nurses United last month.
Timothy McLaughlin, a national representative for AFGE, noted that the VA is already contending with staffing issues. At the end of 2024, the VA reported an estimated 40,000 vacant positions nationwide. In February, the VA dismissed a total of 2,400 employees in two rounds of layoffs. In March, many of these employees were reinstated as a result of court orders from two federal judges.
“We already struggle to provide care,” McLaughlin said. “That’s only going to get worse.”
A VA spokesperson called claims that the department is shortstaffed “very misleading.”
“VA employs nearly 470,000 people and has a historical vacancy rate of about 9 percent — that means at any given moment in time, VA probably has about 40,000 open positions due to natural turnover,” Pete Kasperowicz said in a statement.
The Trump administration, he added, “inherited a VA that is in dire need of reform.” Kasperowicz said that while the department's spending increased by “tens of billions” during the Biden administration, the VA’s performance dipped, noting benefits backlogs, rising wait times and significant problems with survivor benefits.
“We owe it to America’s Veterans to take a close look at VA — how it’s currently functioning and whether current policies are leading to the best outcomes for Veterans. That is precisely what we are doing,” Kasperowicz said.
High level of care
Despite those challenges, VA hospital quality is ranked higher nationally than non-VA hospitals, according to an annual Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services rating. According to a patient satisfaction survey from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, VA hospitals have higher satisfaction ratings on average than non-VA hospitals.
That level of care not only benefits veterans but Americans as a whole, said Dr. Kendrick Roberson, an AFGE national vice president. Roberson alluded to training provided to new medical workers at VA hospitals and the innovations that come out of the federal facilities.
“The work that the federal workers at the VA do is actually so incredibly important that it boosts America as a whole,” Roberson said at the rally. “If you let this administration tell it they would have us believe that the VA does not provide this elite level of care.”
Vanessa Barrow, secretary with AFGE Local 862, which represents VA employees in Brooklyn and Manhattan, emphasized the importance of every VA employee’s contributions. “We need to make people realize that they can’t cut jobs at the VA. All jobs are essential,” Barrow said. “Everybody adds to the equation to make the hospital run.”
Barrow added that she is concerned that the cuts could be used to politically target the VA.
“I feel when they do that they are setting the VA up to fail, because then they're going to say, ‘Well look, they’re not performing how they should,’” Barrow said. “Of course we’re not, because if you’re gonna cut 83,000 positions how can you expect an appropriately run facility?”
Many veterans were in attendance at the rally, and roughly one in four VA employees are veterans.
Joe Bello, a Navy veteran and the founder of NY MetroVets, also spoke out against the impending layoffs. “I have been using the Manhattan VA for two decades, and I love this hospital,” Bello said. “And I’m not the only one who loves it.”
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here