America’s largest union and professional association of registered nurses has condemned the Obama Administration’s decision to impose a two-year wage freeze on Veterans Affairs (VA) nurses and other federal employees.
‘This is a slap in the face of the nurses that we, as a nation count on to care for those harmed in service to this country,’ said Jean Ross, RN, co-president of the 160,000-member National Nurses United, which represents 7,000 VA nurses at 22 VA facilities in a dozen states.
‘VA nurses see an escalating number of veterans traumatised by their war experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan, while trying to improve patient care in the face of reduced staffing and budget cutbacks,’ said Ross.
‘The VA nurses’ ability to advocate for their patients is undermined by restrictions on their workplace rights.
‘Now, the Administration is moving to freeze nurses’ pay as the VA administration stymies their rights to speak out and address their working conditions.’
‘In his statement today, the President said, “In these challenging times we want the best and brightest to join and make a difference”,’ noted Irma Westmoreland, RN, Interim Chair of National Nurses United – Veterans Affairs.
‘Yet by freezing compensation, which for many VA nurses will create economic uncertainty that adds to growing frustration with an already unacceptable staffing crisis in many VA facilities, he is sending the exact opposite message to VA nurses to go work somewhere else,’ said Westmoreland.
‘This could devastate VA recruitment efforts,’ Westmoreland warned.
‘Since VA locality pay laws already state that VA hospitals cannot be the pay leader in any community, this will only serve to widen the pay gap between VA nurses and other nurses in those communities.’
Meanwhile, Ross said that the freeze ‘adds salt to an already festering wound of the Obama Administration’s failure to support equal rights for VA nurses seeking to improve quality of care standards in VA hospitals and to enhance their standard of living.’
For two years in a row, Administration officials have testified against proposals to extend the same collective bargaining rights over care conditions to VA nurses already held by all other VA employees, except physicians and other nurses.
The NNU is promoting legislation to reverse restrictions, enacted by former President George W Bush in 1991, on bargaining rights for VA nurses.
S. 3486, which passed the Senate Veterans Affairs committee in August, is still awaiting action by the full Senate.
It, and a companion House bill, H.R. 5543, would extend full bargaining rights on compensation to VA nurses, as other VA caregivers have. Other bills, H.R. 949 and S. 362, would repeal all the restrictions enacted in 1991 by President Bush.
Ross called for President Obama to rescind the freeze, and support equality for all VA nurses in union and bargaining rights.
She said: ‘Only a relatively small amount of savings are accrued from the wage freeze.
‘Far more deficit reduction could be made by holding the line and not extending the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, and by ending the costly wars in Afghanistan and Iraq once and for all.’
The largest union representing 600,000 federal employees, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), also decried Obama’s federal employee pay freeze for civilian workers in 2011 and 2012.
‘This proposal is a superficial panic reaction to the draconian cuts his deficit commission will recommend,’ stated AFGE National President John Gage.
‘A federal pay freeze saves peanuts at best and, while he may mean it as just a public relations gesture, this is no time for political scapegoating.
‘The American people didn’t vote to stick it to a VA nursing assistant making $28,000 a year or a border patrol agent earning $34,000 per year.
‘President Obama asks federal workers to share the sacrifice, but it’s unconscionable for him to attack the wages of federal working people while the millionaires and billionaires on Wall Street not only get their bailouts and astronomical bonuses; they also get their tax cuts,’ concluded Gage.
The Federal Managers’ Association (FMA) said: ‘Federal employees are not immune to the economic woes experienced by other Americans.
‘Civil servants are facing a seven per cent increase in their health insurance premiums in 2011, in addition to a nine per cent increase this year.
‘Additionally, many feds have spouses who lost their jobs as a result of the economic downturn and are now supporting their families on significantly less pay.
‘By instituting a blanket pay freeze, the take home pay of civil servants will decrease over the next two years, which will not only harm these families, but will also have a negative effect on our struggling economy.
‘Instead of freezing pay for two years, the Administration should re-evaluate the economic climate, as well as data presented by BLS and the ECI, to determine whether a pay raise would be warranted in 2012.
‘We at FMA understand the demands placed on our economy and the current state of our fiscal crisis.
‘Taking steps to reverse our government’s spending, however, should not be unduly borne by our nation’s civil servants.’
l At a time when public services are under attack from right wing politicians and political talking heads, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is fighting back with ‘Stop the Lies’, an aggressive campaign that will expose right wing lies by using social media, videos, paid advertising and ground events across the country.
AFSCME President Gerald W McEntee announced the launch of the campaign on Tuesday with the release of a Brave New Films video that contrasts the lies of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, John Stossel and others with facts and testimonials from AFSCME members.
‘Public service workers have become the scapegoats for the far right,’ said McEntee.
‘We’re not going to sit around and let corporate CEOs define the debate. After all, it was their greed and incompetence that drove this country’s economy into the ditch.’
McEntee added that the ‘Stop the Lies’ campaign will respond to attacks against public service workers and the vital public services they provide.
‘AFSCME is not going to let a group of liars with a corporate agenda get the last word.
‘It won’t be easy – but we are good at standing up and fighting.’
The campaign will call out right wing mistruths on issues such as Social Security, the deficit and tax cuts for the very wealthy.
In addition to videos, AFSCME’s ‘Stop the Lies’ campaign will include advertising in national and local media, online actions, and ground actions in state capitals across the country.
