National Nurses United

In April, Fornnarino testified before the Steering and Policy Com- mittee of the U.S. House of Representatives, stating, "We fear for the future of the Veterans Health Administration…In the short term, our vets will experience longer wait times, have their treatments delayed, and will likely see reduced access to specialized care. In the long term, our patients will have a harder time accessing any care at all, leading to increases in emergency room care and even deaths." Fornnarino spoke about nurses being on the front lines fighting to stop the cuts and concluded her remarks about VA nurses' ability to organize and collectively bargain being at risk. "The Trump administra- tion's recent executive order targeting federal workers' right to bargain is egregious," testified Fornnarino. "Union advocacy and representation allow nurses to focus on what we do best: caring for our patients." In early May, VA nurses traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with lawmakers and lobby for the NNU-sponsored VA Employee Fairness Act (S. 1650, H.R. 3261), which would ensure full collective bargaining rights for nurses and other clinicians in the VA. Cur- rently, provisions in Section 7422 limit the collective bargaining rights of VA nurses. On May 7, Sen. Tammy Duckworth and Rep. Mark Takano reintroduced the VA Employee Fairness Act, which would repeal those provisions and give VA nurses the ability to bar- gain collectively on issues related to patient care. On May 20, VA nurses held a congressional briefing to share their stories about the state of veterans' health care and the impact of the harmful actions by the current administration. Takano, the House Veterans' Affairs Committee ranking member, also spoke at this virtual event. NNU invited members of Congress and their staff to attend the briefing to hear directly from nurses about staffing cuts and the administration's attempts to silence nurses' advocacy. Par- ticipating VA nurses included Monica Coleman, RN in Chicago, Ill.; Sharda Fornnarino, RN in Denver, Colo.; Andrea Johnson, RN in San Diego, Calif.; Mildred Manning-Joy, RN in Durham, N.C.; Este- ban Ramirez-Orta, RN in New York, N.Y.; and Irma Westmoreland, RN in Augusta, Ga. At the briefing, Andrea Johnson, NNOC/NNU director for the San Diego VA, talked about the moral distress she and her col- leagues were experiencing due to the staffing crisis at the VA. "Every day that our employers decide to understaff our units, we have to make impossible decisions of who receives care and who doesn't," said Johnson. "Due to our staffing levels, I've had to leave my patient and go to the pharmacy on another floor because there was no one on staff to deliver medications. I waited 25 to 30 minutes for the medication, which my patient needed urgently." Monica Coleman, NNOC/NNU director for the Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago, noted that many of her patients have built a thorough care plan with a strong team of providers and that it "often takes many years to find the providers they trust and to create a care plan they can stick with." With cuts looming, her patients 20 N A T I O N A L N U R S E W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G A P R I L | M AY | J U N E 2 0 2 5 Take Action Stand in solidarity with VA nurses Call your U.S. senators and representatives and tell them to support the VA Employee Fairness Act (H.R.3261/S.1650), which would give registered nurses and other clinicians working in the VA the full collective bargaining rights they need to advocate for their patients and for their own health and safety. Scan the QR code for more information. Unions sue over federal union busting Six labor unions representing federal government workers across the country sued the Trump administration over the president's attempt to over- ride the law through executive order and strip more than one million federal government employees of their union rights. They are the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), National Association of Government Employees (NAGE-SEIU), National Fed- eration of Federal Employees (NFFE-IAM), National Nurses United (NNU), and Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern Dis- trict of California, alleges that Trump's executive order is a retaliatory attempt to punish federal employee unions that have been engaging in constitutionally protected speech. In a victory for the unions, on June 24, a federal judge ruled that the administration likely violated the law. Unions have repeatedly scored court vic- tories after suing in opposition to actions taken by the Trump administration targeting federal workers. The complaint cites a White House fact sheet that specifically referenced a statement made by AFGE, the lead plaintiff, which rep- resents more than 820,000 federal employees. Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that the Trump administration overbroadly applied the national security exemption to eliminate collective bargaining rights for over a million workers whose primary functions are not related to national security. Those employees work at agencies and departments like the Department of Veterans Affairs, Environmen- tal Protection Agency, Food Safety and Inspection Service, and several others. "Collective bargaining rights are critical for union nurses so we can advocate for our veterans and ensure they get the care they deserve," said Irma Westmoreland, RN and the chair of NNU's VA Division. "We appreciate Judge Donato ruling in favor of our lawsuit, which challenges the executive order that threatens our bargaining rights. We will fight for our veterans who put their lives on the line for us. All federal workers deserve collective bargaining rights." "We are shortchanging veterans who may need emotional and educational support after receiving a life-changing diagnosis. Now is not the time to shrink the VA but rather grow the VA so we can fulfill our mission and our promise to be there for veterans in their times of need."

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