IFPTE Rallies to Honor Veterans and Protect the Rights of Workers at the Veterans Administration

On September 23, IFPTE joined AFGE, NFFE, SEIU, and a broad alliance of labor unions in a march from the AFL-CIO to the headquarters of the Veterans Administration in Washington, DC.  Several Veterans spoke out against recent misguided changes by Secretary Doug Collins, calling on him to reverse policies that impair the VA’s ability to carry out its mission, including the immediate restoration of collective bargaining rights for its workers.   

The group delivered a petition with over 10,000 signatures outlining its demands, which included a forceful calling out of Secretary Collins’s hypocrisy: “You told the Senate you’d be the ‘biggest cheerleader’ for VA employees. You said you respected us, union or not. You said it was all about the veterans. Those words earned you bipartisan support. But from where we sit on the frontlines, they ring hollow.”